The Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Andrews, last night arrived in Algeria on a surprise 24-hour factfinding mission. The visit, the first by an Irish Minister for Foreign Affairs, comes at a key time for the EU, which has been deeply concerned about the continuing violence but wary of any engagement which might be seen as partisan.
Mr Andrews is expected to report back to the Luxembourg EU Presidency, whose Foreign Minister, Mr Jacques Poos, yesterday welcomed the visit, saying it would be "very helpful".
Mr Andrews will today meet President Liamin Zeroual, the Algerian Foreign Minister, Mr Ahe med Attaf, and the chairman of the National Assembly, Mr Ben Salah, as well as members of the parliamentary opposition. He is also due to be briefed by EU ambassadors.
He will not, however, have any contacts with the Islamic opposition, the FIS, whose exclusion from the political process has fuelled the escalating civil war, nor will he meet representatives of the terrorist GIA.
A cautious Mr Andrews, who would not be drawn yesterday into criticism of the regime, said he had met the Algerian ambassador to Ireland recently and had been invited by the Algerian government on a visit. There was huge concern in Ireland, he said, and he hoped he would be able to contribute to greater understanding of the situation.
Mr Andrews was in Brussels for a meeting of foreign ministers before flying to Belfast to join the Taoiseach there. He later flew to Algiers.
Speaking in the debate on Agen da 2000 ahead of this weekend's summit in Luxembourg, Mr Andrews again emphasised Irish concerns that reform of the EU's structural funding should not jeopardise cohesion.
However, because of disagreements on the mandate for next year's negotiations it appears unlikely that the summit will do more than note the various positions of member-states on EU internal reform.
Yesterday's meeting also saw another unsuccessful attempt to resolve differences over how to start accession negotiations with the countries of central and eastern Europe. This must be tackled by the summit in a way that does not seem like a rebuff to the six countries which are not in the Commission's view ready for serious accession talks.
Diplomats believe the issue will be resolved by accepting the Commission formula for talks, the so-called "5+1" - involving Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovenia and Estonia as well as Cyprus - while adding a lot of talk about "inclusiveness".
The "outs" may also be involved in a screening process to assess their compatibility with 31,000 pages of EU legislation and case law - in the words of one diplomat, "a little magic dust" to obscure the reality of a differentiated approach.
Greece is also still blocking Turkish involvement in a pan-European Conference of EU applicants, but diplomats yesterday said they saw signs of movement with the Greek Foreign Minister, Mr Theodoros Pangalos, promising to raise the issue in cabinet ahead of the summit.
Ministers also agreed to ask for intelligence reports on the reason for the sudden influx of several thousand illegal Iraqi refugees into Germany, Sweden and the Netherlands.
The British Foreign Secretary, Mr Robin Cook, promised to bring greater openness to deliberations of ministers by creating a public register of Council of Minister documents.
