Islamic party tries to fill aid void in Algeria

TIDJELABINE, Algeria -- An Islamic party set up a camp Tuesday for people left homeless by Algeria's devastating earthquake and handed out food and water, showing itself ready to fill the vacuum of aid distribution left by the government.

Since last week's killer quake, anger has mounted at what survivors say is the slow government response -- with townspeople at times pelting visiting senior officials, even the president, with stones or debris.

The interior minister was so angered by jeers from survivors in one town that he threatened to withhold tents and other aid if protests continued, witnesses said. The government later apologized.

But the criticism has provided an opening for Muslim fundamentalists, despite efforts to squeeze them out by the military-backed government, which has battled armed Islamic radicals in a civil war since 1992.

"We want to take charge of families in this village for one or two years until they can be housed again," said Ahmed Houlim, a member of El-Islah oua El-Irched, an aid group run by a moderate Islamic party.

The May 21 quake killed at least 2,218 people, injured more than 9,000, and left an unknown number missing.

Panic spread again in the quake zone east of the capital, Algiers, when the strongest aftershock yet rocked the region Tuesday, killing at least three people and injuring 187, state radio said.

The radio said the aftershock had a magnitude of 5.8. In the quake-ravaged town of Boumerdes, at least one home collapsed, the report said.

Guests fled a hotel in Algiers, fearing a collapse, and rattled staff huddled together for comfort.

Since the quake, many residents have been living in the streets or in tents set up in parks, fearing aftershocks could topple unstable buildings.

Attracting supporters

El-Islah did not hide the fact that it was looking to attract supporters as it set up tents for 13 families whose homes were left in ruins in Tidjelabine, a town of 10,000 near the quake's epicenter. Some Islah workers wore aprons with their party name and logo displayed on the back.

Houlim, who was overseeing the building of toilets in the camp, said Islah teams were in all quake-hit areas, including hard-hit areas such as Boumerdes and Zemmouri.

"We are much better organized than the state," he said. "When there are elections, local or presidential, there are candidates in our organization and if people want to vote for them, they should."

But some residents said they objected to attempts to use their hardship for political gain.

Just across from the camp, in a school courtyard, dozens of people lined up for biscuits, water and sugar at a distribution center run by local authorities, who are under the control of the local mayor -- a member of the ruling National Liberation Front.

The Islah activists "are doing it for political interest, that's not good," Rasaid Azem, the center's manager, said.

He dismissed accusations the government and the authorities have done too little too late to help quake victims.

"Everything is now under control, we have all the necessary items," he said, as a truck packed with dozens of brand new mattresses pulled in. "You must not listen to stricken people outside who say they have nothing, it's not true."

The government has grown jittery over Muslim groups that excelled in providing aid -- and winning gratitude -- during the November 2001 flooding in Algiers that killed more than 700 people.

Fearful that fundamentalists could turn that gratitude into political power, the government issued a warning on Monday against "irregular" collection and distribution of donations for quake victims. The government lumps such groups with Islamic insurgents it has been fighting since 1992; 120,000 people have died.

El-Islah is a government-recognized group and not legally a target of the warning.

Tensions over the recovery and relief effort bubbled to the surface Monday, when Interior Minister Yazid Noureddine Zerhouni was greeted during a visit to Bordj El Kiffan with cries of "police state, dictatorship" and "Leave. We don't need you," the newspaper Le Matin reported.

Witnesses said the minister apparently lost his temper and threatened to withhold aid.

"He poked me in the chest and told me: 'There will be neither tents nor any other kind of aid for you if you're going to riot," said Abderrahmane Khodja, the head of a residents' committee in an apartment complex that collapsed, leaving 150 families homeless.

Still, most quake victims said they didn't care about politics, but just want tents, medicines, clean water and blankets.

"We are victims of an earthquake," said Djamel Zidi, a 39-year-old teacher, his voice rising in anger. "We haven't time for politics."

The last thing on Djillali Gourmi's mind was who he might vote for in next year's presidential elections.

The 37-year-old bus driver's only concern is when his family will have a home; their apartment bloc was damaged beyond repair and will be torn down.

"The priority must be to help stricken people ... to rebuild homes," he said. "The rest doesn't matter."