efforts in the Algerian civil war.

Representatives from Amnesty International have written to Governor Thorold Masefield and Premier Pamela Gordon in a bid to win backing for a special human rights mission.

Amnesty is appealing for all world leaders to authorise the appointment of a Special Rapporteur to investigate human rights abuses in Algeria and report back to the United Nations.

About 80,000 people have been killed since the bloody conflict between Islamic groups and the government began in 1992.

And the letter from Amnesty's Bermuda Section Algeria Group said: "Although Bermuda is a small country, we feel that it is important for us to work towards the alleviation of the human rights abuses around the world and especially those which continue in Algeria.''