Hard on the heels of one of the most atrocious and pitiless acts of terrorism in the Algerian civil war - the massacre of over 200 people in the village of Bentalha on the outskirts of Algiers - comes the good news that one of the armed groups confronting the government has declared a ceasefire. Details are sketchy, but the ceasefire seems to follow a prolonged secret dialogue between the Government and the main opposition force, the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS).
Up to 1,000 people have been slaughtered in the last month in Algeria, perhaps 100,000 in the last five years, many of them near army barracks or security centres. This has raised grave questions about possible government complicity in some of these attacks, even the suggestion that Government operatives may have penetrated the ranks of the most dangerous terrorists in an attempt to discredit the Islamic opposition by perpetrating such terrible atrocities.
But the Algerian regime is reliably reported to be split between those who support dialogue and those who are determined to eradicate the FIS opposition for fear that an agreement would remove them from power. This mirrors divisions within the opposition itself between those willing to pursue an agreement with President Lamine Zeroual's government and those who are determined to fight to the finish. Taken together, these two glaringly contrasting developments, the ceasefire and the massacres, could be turned to advantage by a determined international mediation effort. There are many ways in which its main protagonists could be encouraged or pressurised towards negotiations. Despite these continuing atrocities, Algeria retains a surprising level of normal international political, commercial and economic intercourse. Indeed the timing of some of these massacres may well be related to ritual affirmations of normalcy by government ministers. Only on Sunday the prime minister, Mr Ahmed Ouyahia, said such acts of terrorism "have begun to wane as a result of the government's vigilance".
The country has large international investments, particularly from the US and France in its extensive oil and gas resources and its economy has been restructured in accordance with advice and huge loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and other international creditors. France has extended substantial political and security aid to the regime, despite the cancellation of elections in 1992 which triggered off the violence. Now many more French politicians are calling for a rapid internationalisation of the crisis.
Algerian government spokesmen have denounced, as an interference in their affairs, recent calls by the UN Secretary General, Mr Kofi Annan, for the violence to be ended. But surely it is open to the UN, the US, the IMF and the European Union to co-ordinate efforts for mediating the conflict and to exert pressure for that to be done? In the words of the German Foreign Minister, Mr Klaus Kinkel, to a session of the United Nations General Assembly, " how long can the international community look away?"