A European Union mission will visit Algeria next week to offer help to curb the political violence in which thousands have died, the British Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, has confirmed.

The EU Troika will be led by the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Derek Fatchett, and includes senior officials from Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Austria. A Troika is a traditional formula involving past, present and next presidencies of the EU.

Mr Cook said: "I am glad my discussions produced this result. Now we can move ahead with our mission."

Robin Cook: "Now we can move ahead with our mission"

The UK's role as mediator on behalf of the EU suffered a setback on Wednesday when the Algerian government rejected Mr Cook's plans to send a high-level delegation as not good enough.

But further discussions with the North African country's foreign minister, Ahmed Attaf, clinched an agreement.

The country had also wanted the agenda for such a visit to be about countering terrorists, the word the Algerian government uses to describe the Islamic extremists, whom it blames for the recent massacres.

"It has now been agreed that an EU Troika mission at ministerial level will visit Algeria next week to continue the political dialogue between the EU and Algeria established at the time of Mr Attaf's talks with Luxembourg Foreign Minister Poos in November," Mr Cook said.

The Troika will complete its work in time for the meeting of EU foreign ministers on January 26.

The death toll in Algeria continues to rise

A Foreign Office spokesman said: "We have an agreement with the Algerians on a very general formula so everything can be discussed.

"We are happy to discuss all matters relevant to ending the suffering of the Algerian people and are ready to listen to all concerns that the Algerian authorities wish to put to us."

It was originally intended to send a team of Arab experts from the governments of Luxembourg, the UK and Austria, including Derek Plumbly from the Foreign Office.

But as Mr Cook flew back to Britain after filling in the details for Euro-MPs in Strasbourg his plans were in tatters.

Derek Fatchett, Minister for Foreign Affairs, will lead the EU visit

"A visit on this level has no meaning," said a terse statement from the Algerian government.

It was delivered to UK officials in their role as President of the EU - effectively in charge of the EU's joint foreign policy initiatives.

The visit by the fact-finding team from Luxembourg, the UK and Austria will mark the first attempt by the EU to become involved in the Algerian crisis since violence erupted there in 1992.

In a separate development, Algeria also agreed to a separate request that Francois Gordon, the UK ambassador in the country, be allowed to visit Sidi Hammed, scene of last weekend's horrific massacre.

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