Algeria - Islamic Salvation Front, Front Islamique du Salut (FIS)

The Islamic fundamentalist FIS, founded in March 1989, was once a strong political party that should have been in power, but was banned by the Algerian government after the 1991 elections were voided. The FIS signed a peace agreement on September 24, 1997, to essentially show that the GIA is conducting the grisly killings.

FIS leader Shaykh Abassi Madani (who did his doctorate at London's Institute of Education) and his hawkish deputy, Ali Belhadj, were released from jail and transferred to a cushy villa under house arrest in an effort to strike a compromise with the fundamentalists, but put back in jail after the government refused to meet the leaders' demands. But in another conciliatory gesture to the rebels, Madani was freed on parole in July 1997, although his influence over the rebels has waned. Most consider Abdelkader Hachani the next FIS leader until he was killed on Nov. 22, 1999. Hachani was sentenced in July 1997 to five years in prison, but was then freed by authorities. Ali Belhadj (b. 1955) was a former teacher and Imam of a mosque. He was imprisoned twice before for antigovernment views.

The government's policy of attacking and jailing FIS leaders has had the same effect Hercules had on the Hydra. Instead of one unified Islamic group, they now had dozens of smaller groups, each with a different agenda and approach.