Algeria Rejects Call for U.N. Inquiry Into Violence

The Algerian government Monday rejected a proposal for a U.N. inquiry into the political violence that has claimed more than 65,000 lives in this North African country.

Bill Richardson, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, called Thursday for U.N. experts to be allowed into Algeria to conduct an inquiry into the violence.

“The No. 1 problem in Algeria is terrorism,” said Abdelaziz Sebaa, a spokesman for the Algerian Foreign Ministry. “The allegations that have been put forward . . . in no way justify an intervention by special experts.”

International human rights groups believe that the Algerian authorities may bear responsibility for some of the massacres that routinely occur. The government blames the violence on the Armed Islamic Group, a militant fundamentalist organization.

The Algerian government has consistently refused to allow outside, independent investigators to look into the violence, saying the problem is an internal matter.