The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Mrs Mary Robinson, has said the violence against civilians in Algeria has become "intolerable" and there is now "a terrible problem of human rights" in that country. She said there was increasing concern in the international community that some of the violence was taking place near military barracks and no effective action was being taken.
Mrs Robinson, who is in Washington to address Women, Law and Development International, yesterday met Mrs Hillary Clinton at the White House, and discussed her human rights role with US officials.
Mrs Robinson said that when she met the Algerian Foreign Minister, Mr Ahmed Attaf, at the UN in New York recently, they had "a difference of viewpoint whether the level of violence is a matter of international concern".
She had made it clear to him that "when there is such a high level of continued violence against the civilian population and when there was a situation where some of that violence is taking place very close to government installations and army barracks, there had to be a degree of international concern."
Mrs Robinson said there was the issue of "a lack of due diligence by a government in add ressing that violence and protecting its population". She has asked UN bodies with expertise to report to her by Tuesday. So far, no member-government of the Commission of Human Rights had asked for a special session to discuss Algeria, she said.
Mrs Robinson was speaking at a media briefing which also heard an emotional appeal from an Algerian women's rights activist and journalist, Ms Zazi Sadou, on behalf of the victims of the violence and their families.