ABSTRACT
The Algerian Army subsequently intervened, staging a 'constitutional coup d'état' which removed President Chadli Benjedid from power. The regime's repressive drift, with its severe crackdowns on Islamic Salvation Front militants and sympathisers, also initiated the repression-counter-violence spiral that has characterised Algeria's daily life in the 1990s. The Algerian employers' union protested against the insufficient funds and delays set by Sid Ahmed Ghozali for the financial stabilization of public enterprises. France's attempts at promoting a political compromise, by suggesting that a new political personality capable of rallying the Islamists' allegiance was needed, was a central factor in the deterioration of the entente between the two states until the French volte-face of January 1993. The political dialogue eventually was cut short because the political parties refused to back the High State Councils authoritarian policies. Neither political relations nor economic co-operation illustrated France's discourse of support to, and solidarity with, the Algerian regime.
