Algeria's commission on "disappearances" needs greater investigative powers and a broader mandate if it is to be credible and effective, Human Rights Watch says in a new report. The 32-page report, "Truth and Justice on Hold: The New State Commission on 'Disappearances,'" examines the "disappearances" commission announced in September by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. After years of stonewalling on the issue, the Algerian government established the commission to clarify the fate of the more than 7,000 persons who "disappeared"-mostly at the hands of security forces-during the civil conflict of the 1990s.

In late April 2001, lethal provocations by elements of Algeria’s National Gendarmerie triggered protracted and deadly rioting in Kabylia. That the unrest from Kabylia’s Black Spring continues to this day reflects the political system’s nation-wide failure to adopt reforms that address its deficit of democratic representation, says the International Crisis Group. Neither the regime, nor the Kabyle political parties nor the so-called “Coordinations” that lead the protest movement in the region has to date proposed a serious formula for ending the impasse.