UN calls for sympathy towards Algerian refugees

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, has appealed to European governments to be more generous towards Algerians applying for asylum.

Mrs Ogata said some European countries - notably Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands - held what she called a restrictive view that only a state could persecute people.

But she said that many Algerians feared being attacked by Islamic extremists, and that this should not mean they are denied asylum.

The UNHCR says only one-in-twenty Algerians applying for asylum are expected to be successful.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service