The vice president of the European Commission, Mr Manuel Marin, arrived in Algiers last night just ahead of a high ranking EU mission to discuss the Algerian government's six year fight against Islamic fundamentalists.The main mission includes the Deputy Foreign Ministers of Austria, Britain and Luxembourg. Mr Marin said in Madrid earlier yesterday that the mission had "finally" received permission from the Algerian government to maybe visit the sites of recent massacres.The Algerian government has repeatedly warned that any attempt by the EU mission to investigate slaughters over the last three weeks would be regarded as foreign "interference" in its affairs.Instead, it has defined the visit's agenda as finding ways to dismantle "terrorist networks" in Europe which it says are supply the Islamic militants.The three Deputy Foreign Ministers in the delegation - Mr Derek Fatchett of Britain, Ms Benita Ferrero-Waldner of Austria and Mr Georges Wohlfart of Luxembourg - represent the current, future and past post-holders of the rotating EU presidency.The mission was prompted by European concern over the recent wave of massacres which, according to press reports, left more than 1,500 people dead since the start of the Islamic holy month of Ramadan on December 30th.The Algerian government, which officially puts the Ramadan toll at 254, maintains that any discussion of the massacres was unwelcome because it has established that Islamic "terrorists", as it calls them, are to blame.Mr Marin acknowledged that the EU mission "must read carefully", but said they were determined to speak to Algerian opposition figures and journalists as well as the Foreign Minister, Mr Ahmed Attaf, and other government ministers."In principle," Mr Marin said, the scope for the dialogue was "quite wide". But, he added, the delegation must maintain a "careful and constructive" approach so as not to "delegitimise" the Algerian government.In Washington, a former Algerian prime minister, Mr Abdul Hamid Brahimi, who resigned 10 years ago, alleged that the Algerian army has been organising the massacres of civilians.