1992 — Algeria's Black Decade Begins

On February 9, 1992, Algeria's military-backed rulers declared a state of emergency, the decree that opened the country's "Black Decade" of civil war. It followed annulled elections and hundreds of arrests, and it granted sweeping detention and censorship powers.

The emergency lasted 19 years, far beyond any single crisis. The conflict it ushered in killed an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 people. A decree presented as a temporary measure became the legal frame for a generation of violence, and February 9 stands as the day Algeria's rulers chose emergency rule over the ballot box. Nineteen years is longer than many Algerians had been alive when it began.