ALGIERS, January 15: Algeria has called off a visit by European officials seeking ways to end bloodshed in this north African nation because the delegation lacks prestige, the Algerian Foreign Minister said on Wednesday.Algerian police, meanwhile, freed a top leader of the banned Islamic Salvation Front on Wednesday, a day after detaining him, party sympathisers said. It was not immediately known whether Abdelkader Hachani, detained after interviews with him were published in several European newspapers, was charged.
Algeria's refusal to accept a visit by a European Union delegation marked a return to Algiers' systematic refusal of offers of international aid or investigations into six years of violence that has claimed an estimated 75,000 lives.
The delegation made up of the heads of foreign ministries of Britain, Austria and Luxembourg was to visit Algeria for three days starting Friday.
Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf said the European diplomats, who sought ministerial meetings in Algiers, themselves
held a "very modest level of responsibility."
"There is an unacceptable imbalance ...," Attaf told reporters. "The mission has lost its meaning."
Algeria's rebuff came less than a week after it agreed to accept a visit by the EU mission.
Algeria has traditionally seen efforts to intervene in its domestic problems as insults to its sovereignty. It was supported in that position on Wednesday by the Arab league. The Arab league is against any foreign interference in Algeria. "What would the European countries do if an Arab country said it wanted to send a team to investigate the sheltering of terrorists on its territories?" Undersecretary Ehab Muqbel asked in a statement.
The Algerian reversal came hours after British Foreign Minister Robin Cook said there was no proof that the Algerian government had played a part in the massacres that have killed more than 1,000 people in less than two weeks.
"We're disappointed the Algerian authorities will not receive the troika at the official level," said a
statement from Britain, which currently holds the EU presidency.
The mission was to be made up of the EU's so-called troika countries that currently hold, last held and will next hold the EU presidency.
A British official, who asked not to be named, said Cook was "disappointed" with Algeria's reversal. "We want to engage Algeria in a dialogue," the official said. The British statement said EU foreign ministers would discuss the crisis in Algeria when they meet next on January 26.
Sources within the Islamic Salvation Front in Algiers meanwhile said Hachani was detained by security forces on Tuesday evening and freed on Wednesday afternoon.
His arrest came after the publication this week of interviews with him in several newspapers, including French dailies Le Monde and Le Figaro. The government has warned members of the outlawed front not to speak publicly. Hachani, the party's number three leader, was freed in July after five years in prison.
Copyright © 1998 Indian Express Newspapers (Bombay) Ltd.
