In April 2004 President Abdelaziz was re-elected to a second term as president in a landslide victory. He promised to devote himself to seeking 'true national reconciliation' and to heal the divide between the Berbers and the Algerian state. Berbers had threatened to boycott the elections over their demand that the Tamazight language should have equal status with Arabic.

Berbers

Ethnic Berbers account for between a third and a fifth of Algeria's population of 30 million, and they have campaigned for greater rights since the country won independence from France in 1962. In January 2005 the government announced that agreement had been made with the Berbers on the 'El-Kseur platform' – a reference to a list of Berber demands drawn up after the unrest in 2001. The list included calls for greater investment in the Kabylie region and for official recognition of Berber music, culture and their language, known as Tamazight. Several aspects of the new agreement, such as making Tamazight an official language and cutting the number of security forces in Kabylie, were not agreed in detail.

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