A high-profile European Parliament delegation arrived in Algeria yesterday, vowing to discuss everything with its Algerian counterparts that could help the north African country face up to a bloody crisis.
"We want to talk about everything," the chairman of the ninemember delegation, Mr Andre Soulier, said on arrival at Algiers airport, listing terrorism, the security situation, cultural and economic issues.
"The delegation is coming without a prioris, to hold a dialogue, without taboos, about all issues of common interest," he said.
He said the delegation represented the millions of EU citizens who had reacted with horror to the upsurge in killings of men, women and children over the Muslim holy month of Ramadan in isolated villages and hamlets.
The government has blamed the killings on Islamist rebels.
The delegation, the most high-profile mission ever sent out by the European Parliament, has been surrounded by tight security. A fruitless visit by three EU ministers in mid-January failed to alleviate mutual mistrust.
The group says that during its five-day visit it wants to listen and understand rather than to judge, and it has been at pains to stress that it will not act as an international commission of inquiry.
Independent western estimates say more than 65,000 people have been killed in Algeria since 1992.