London - Four leading human rights organisations yesterday called on the world to stop turning a blind eye to Algeria, where more than 60,000 people have died in almost six years of violence. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reporters Sans Frontieres and the International Federation of Human Rights said the UN Commission on Human Rights should convene a special session on Algeria. "Thousands of people - women and children, the poor and elderly - have been massacred with unspeakable brutality," the four organisations said in a statement. "Their cries have not been heard in their country, or beyond their national borders."
Suspected Islamist rebels were reported to have massacred up to 54 people near Algeria's main oil and gas hub earlier this week. A judge was also reported killed in a town near the major industrial city of Annaba.