CAIRO (Islam Online)-The continuous killings and massacres in Algeria are not committed by Islamists, but by “internal and external powers that benefit from the carnage,” according to top Algerian Islamist, Mahfouz Nahnah.

Nahnah would not mention these powers, but said that they provide “financial support, political cover and spread suspicion, like when they ask, ‘Who is killing who in Algeria, anyway?’”

Nahnah, in an interview in Cairo with Islam Online, said that the amnesty deal offered by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika had helped reduce the amount of bloodshed, which began eight years ago when the secular government and military canceled free elections, which the Islamic Salvation Party (known by its French acronym, FIS) was poised to win. Today most FIS leaders are detained by the Algerian government or in exile and the party is banned.

“But the [amnesty] did not stop all the violence, and did not uproot the violence and terrorism,” said Nahnah, who heads a small but influential party known as the Movement For Peaceful Society. The movement’s acronyms are Hamas in Arabic, but it has no relations to the Palestinian Hamas. Hamas did not join the FIS umbrella and has taken a more moderate stance toward the Algerian government.

Nahnah also denied that the Algerian army was responsible for most of the massacres, as is widely speculated outside the country. But the army, “in its rabid pursuit of the terrorists, might make stupid mistakes and violate the law once in a while,” he said.

The Islamic Salvation Party and Hamas believe it is too early to re-enter the world of Algerian politics, and prefer to wait until the bloodbath is to, Nahnah said. “The families of the victims would not accept it easily,” he said.

An FIS leader, Rabih Kabir, agreed, saying, “We want the bloodshed to stop immediately. Political activity can be delayed.”

Nahnah also denied that the Algerian army, which launched the country into the spiral of violence it is in now by canceling the elections, would not stand in the way of Islamists legally reaching power again. “Some people in the military have made mistakes and been punished. But to say that the military establishment has orders to assassinate citizens, crack down on the Muslims, and prevent them from reaching power is wrong,” he said.

Nahnah said that Arab countries were going about “fighting terrorism” in an imprudent way. “We agree with fighting terrorism. But is fighting it enough, or should there be a remedy of its causes? Terrorism must be deal with ideologically, culturally, politically, religiously, judicially and militarily, but to deal with it militarily only, as if to remove it, will not be accepted by any people,” he said.

He said it would take some time for Algerians to give up the use of their weapons and have a peaceful national dialogue, but they are moving toward that. “Everyone will be under the law… and there should be no more security hunt downs, termination of employees because of their political inclinations or decrease of freedoms,” he said.

As for the release of FIS leader, Abbasi Madani from his house arrest, Nahnah said, “His time was over,” so the government would probably release him soon. Nahnah said Madani’s house arrest was not as harsh as people thought. “He was allowed to marry,” said Nahnah, adding that the president could delay the release of Madani if he wanted.

And if Bouteflika wanted to grant a general amnesty to all those involved in the killing, Nahnah stated, “it is constitutionally acceptable and we don’t have any objections.”

Nahnah, who was banned from visiting Egypt for being an Islamist, was in Cairo recently for the first time in 25 years, ostensibly to attend a conference on the Arab water crisis. He met with a number of officials from Arab countries.

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