Algeria Wants No Outside Interference North African Nation Says It Doesn’t Need Help In Conflict With Islamic Extremists

Algeria warned other countries Saturday to stay out of a bloody conflict involving Islamic extremists trying to overthrow the government of this north African nation.

The sharply worded message came after French President Francois Mitterrand’s proposal Friday for a European conference to help end the insurgency, in which 30,000 people have died.

The proposal triggered the worst diplomatic crisis between Algeria and its former colonial ruler during the three-year crisis.

Foreign Minister Gen. Abdelkader Taffar summoned the French ambassador to stress “the Algerian government will accept no interference in its internal affairs,” his ministry said.

Algeria also recalled its ambassador from France for consultations on the issue.

“Algeria has not demanded and will not demand foreign intervention to resolve an internal problem,” state radio said.

It said Mitterrand’s proposal had only a “minimal” chance of success because other European nations would likely not join in. It criticized the French president for “allowing himself to get mixed up in the affairs of an independent and sovereign state.”

“What is important for Francois Mitterrand is to profit from the few months left to him in power to express his visceral hate for a sovereign, independent Algeria,” the radio said.

Mitterrand, who ends 14 years in power in May, was interior minister during Algeria’s independence war against France that ended in 1962.

Mitterrand proposed the European Union hold a conference drawing on ideas put forward at a meeting in Rome last month of Algerian opposition parties, including the outlawed Islamic Salvation Front.