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31 December 2008
An unknown number of people – estimates range between 500,000 and 1.5 million – have been displaced in Algeria since 1992 due to ongoing conflict between insurgent Islamist groups and the government. In particular, large-scale massacres of civilians between 1996 and 1998 by the Armed Islamic Group (GIA) forced many Algerians to flee affected areas. Security has improved considerably during recent years, but Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) emerged in 2007 with attacks against Western targets and the Algerian security forces. In 2008 low-level armed conflict continued but there were no reports of new displacement.
Because of limited access to displacement-affected areas, no reliable figures are available. The newspaper El Watan suggested there were 500,000 IDPs in 2004; since then there has been no official reference to internal displacement. The Government considers that practically all IDPs have returned.