Algeria's parliament meets amid bloodshed

Algeria's newly elected parliament met for the first time to examine ways of accelerating economic reform and easing political strife in the insurgency-torn country.

Major changes in government policy are not expected, since the parties loyal to president Liamine Zeroual, a former general, have won a majority in the recent legislative elections.

Zeroual's government has been fighting a Muslim insurgency that erupted after the military canceled 1992 parliamentary elections that a fundamentalist party, the Islamic Salvation Front, was on the verge of wining. More than 60,000 people have been killed in violence between Islamic militants and government security forces.

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