Algerian militant under house arrest in Switzerland

An Algerian militant seeking asylum in Switzerland has been put under house arrest after entering the country illegally from Belgium.

The Swiss border authorities had orders not to admit the man, Ahmed Zaoui, who's thought by the Swiss authorities to be a member of Algeria's Armed Islamic Group or GIA, which is accused of many massacres in the five-year Islamic insurgency.

However, a correspondent for the BBC in Bern says that now Mr Zaoui is in Switzerland, the authorities are finding it difficult under Swiss legislation to return him to Belgium or Algeria.

In a Swiss newspaper interview, M Zaoui admitted being an influential member of the Islamic Salvation Front, which has declared a ceasefire in the insurgency, but not the GIA.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service