EU considers possible mission to Algeria

European Union officials, meeting in Brussels today, are to consider a proposal for a fact-finding mission to visit Algeria to discuss the recent massacres of civilians there.

The British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, said the aim would be to express Europe's concern about the killings and to open up a dialogue with the Algerian government.

As international pressure mounts on the Algerian authorities, the Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy announced that he was also sending an envoy to Algiers.

However, after a cabinet meeting yesterday on Wednesday, the Algerian government repeated its refusal to allow an international enquiry into the massacres -- and in a BBC interview, its UN ambassador angrily rejected suggestions that the security forces might somehow be involved in the killings, which are blamed on Islamist extremists.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service