Algerians began voting Thursday in a referendum on a partial amnesty for hundreds of Muslim militants, intended to bring an end to more than a decade of conflict that has cost at least 150,000 lives.

Polls opened at 8 am (0700 GMT) and more than 18 million Algerians are eligible to vote on President Abdelaziz Bouteflika's proposed "charter for peace and national reconciliation". The government expects a massive "yes."

Opposition parties accuse Bouteflika of using the referendum to strengthen his grip on the oil-producing North African country. Human rights groups say the amnesty will sweep under the carpet abuses committed by the army and Islamists.

Pensioner Mohammed Mammar, waiting to vote in Algiers' poor Bab El Oued district, said: "I want reconciliation in this country. I hope the situation will change for the better and I'm voting because I trust Bouteflika."

The charter will offer an amnesty to rebels in prison, on the run or still fighting. Those involved in large-scale massacres are excluded.

It also asks the people to forgive and turn the page on what the president calls a "national tragedy," but it bans Islamists from participating in politics.

The conflict began after the army cancelled Algeria's first multi-party legislative election, which the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was on course to win in 1992.

The authorities estimate there are between 800 and 1,000 rebels. At its height in the mid-1990s, up to 25,000 men were involved in the insurgeny.

Many ordinary Algerians shrug off the importance of the referendum, saying that boosting their standard of living is more important than pardoning the remaining Islamists.

It is the second time Bouteflika has asked the people in a referendum to approve efforts to end the bloodshed. There are no independent monitors of the ballot.

Violence has fallen sharply in recent years, although dozens of soldiers and civilians have been killed in recent weeks.

The al-Qaida-aligned Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) - the main outlawed rebel movement - is divided over whether to support the plan.

Source: China Daily