Escalation 1994–1996 Massacres and reconciliation 1996–1999 Defeat of the GIA 1999–2002 Member State of the African Union Member State of the Arab League A referendum on the Civil Concord Law was held in Algeria on 16 September 1999.

The purpose of the law was to end the Algerian Civil War, and its most important element was its establishment of a system of clemency for Islamist fighters.

[2] The law declared that all citizens not involved in mass killings, sexual crimes and the bombing of public spaces would be placed under probation for three to five years and could continue to fight against rebel forces.

The success of this law was made evident in the return of thousands of Islamist fighters and the eventual complete dissolution of the AIS in January 2000.

[4] In 2005, President Bouteflika announced another referendum on the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation, which further enabled the reintegration of militant fighters into Algerian civil society by further expanding the amnesty provisions originally detailed in the Civil Concord Law of 1999.