SUMMARY

GIA – El Khadra Battalion (Groupe islamique armée: Armed Islamic Group – Green Battalion)

GIA – El Khadra Battalion (Groupe islamique armée: Armed Islamic Group – Green Battalion) is a splinter group from the Algerian rebel group GIA (Groupe Islamique Armé, Armed Islamic Group) also known as Al-Jama’ah al-Islamiyah al-Musallah. GIA emerged in 1992, in the turmoil following the banning of the Islamic party FIS (Front islamique du salut, Islamic Salvation Front) after its victory in the parliamentary elections. GIA’s goals were focused on the re-islamisation of the Algerian society; they adhered to a strict interpretation of the Islamic values and beliefs. Their overall goal was a society built on Islamic values, in Algeria, but ultimately, the world. GIA was initially led, and formed by, Mansouri Miliani, a former member of MIA (Mouvement islamique algérien; Armed Islamique Movement), another islamic rebel group active in Algeria at the time. Eventually several groups merged into GIA, making it one, of two, large rebel groups in Algeria, the other one being AIS (Armée Islamique du Salut, Islamique Salvation Army). In 1997 a nationwide ceasefire was declared by AIS, in addition there was a denunciation concerning the use of violence towards civilians. This ceasefire was received by GIA in a differentiated manner; it subsequently led to the formation of several splinter groups which have been, active in various categories of organized violence.

GIA – El Khadra Battalion (Groupe islamique armée: Armed Islamic Group – Green Battalion) was formed when internal disagreements within GIA became too immense to handle within the same organization. The Green Battalion was one of many splinter groups to emerge from the original formation of GIA. During the turbulent phase of disintegration these splinter groups found themselves fighting each other. The Green Battalion was short lived as an organized group; it first became active during 1998 when members of different splinter organizations, all stemming from GIA, engaged in armed battle in the mountains of Sidi Bel Abbés province in Algeria. The activity was however limited to 1998, and there is only a couple of clashes that can, with some certainty, be linked to El Khadra. The leadership of the organization is vague, it is, in its essence, an organization that was an answer to the turbulent setting in which these groups found themselves during the late nineties, and given its short period of activity it is hard to identify a single leading figure for this group. The definite end of the El Khadra battalion was the intensified action taken towards the various armed groups of Algeria during 2004. Several top members of armed movements were apprehended, or in some cases, killed, this meant the end of the El Khadra battalion. The remaining members were requited by other Islamic groups, of which there, at the time, were plenty.

GIA – El Khadra Battalion has been involved in non-state category of UCDP organised violence.