Sweden urges Algerians to work together against violence

Swedish Foreign Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallen said on Tuesday that the international community should urge Algerians to act together against violence in the country but that the problem could only be solved in the country itself.

"I think that the violence in Algeria must not continue any longer now, what we hear happening every day is so abominable.

Therefore it is important that the collective message from the world now is that people in Algeria must act together against violence," she said, in remarks broadcast by Swedish radio.

She said the international community should address the extremists carrying out the killings as well as those holding political power.

"It is important that we make the message clear.

The message is of course directed to these groups, which must consist of people who are completely brainwashed to be able to carry out these terrible deeds, so that the extremists hear the message from us: what they do is not in any way justified by what the political movement stands for," she said.

"It is also directed to all who carry political responsibility in Algeria, we want them to act together against terrorism and violence," she said.

She said that solutions to the crisis could only be found in Algeria itself.

"We are prepared to help the Algerian authorities, but we must keep it clear that this is something that must be solved in Algeria.

There are no solutions to be found in Stockholm or any other capital city," Hjlem-Wallen said.

BBC Monitoring (http://www.monitor.bbc.co.uk), based in Caversham in southern England, selects and translates information from radio, television, press, news agencies and the Internet from 150 countries in more than 70 languages.