PRESIDENT Liamine Zeroual of Algeria yesterday assured officials from 10 political parties that planned general elections would be held in safety, and he suggested either May 29th or June 5th for the first round.
Gen Zeroual played down the violence by Islamic militants which has left an estimated 50,000 people dead since the military cancelled Algeria's last general elections in 1992, said Ms Sofiane Djilali, deputy leader of the Party for Algeria's Renewal.
The continuing violence, in which more than 300 people have been murdered during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, was localised, Gen Zeroual claimed.
Four children were injured, one seriously, when a home-made bomb exploded in Sidi Moussa, 20 km south-east of Algiers, the daily newspaper Liberte reported yesterday. The children, all aged 11, were playing near a school building site on Monday when the bomb went off.
The talks drew the main opposition and pro-government parties, including the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD), the National Liberation Front (FLN), and the first legal Islamic party, the Movement of the Islamic Society (MSI-Hamas), but were boycotted by the main secular opposition party, the Front of Socialist Forces (FFS), and by the pro-communist Ettahadi party.
The election is the first since the second round of elections were cancelled in January 1992 as the now-outlawed Islamic Salvation Front (FIS) was poised to win.
The FFS said it boycotted the meeting because it was aimed "at ratifying decisions already taken". It called for the opening of a "real dialogue" and the launching of a peace process".
The meeting decided to create a working group to prepare an independent national commission responsible for monitoring the elections. Algeria has asked the UN, the Organisation of African Unity and the Arab League to oversee the upcoming vote, which is to be followed by local elections before the end of the year.