Algeria Saturday slammed statements said to have been made by Britain's ambassador in which he referred to the "brutality" of the country's armed forces.
"Such statements do not conform either to diplomatic ethics or even less to the strengthening of the international front for the fight against terrorism," the official APS news agency said.
During an interview with Algeria's French-language newspaper Le Matin on Thursday, ambassador Graham Hand Stewart was quoted as saying, "It is possible to sell arms to Algeria today, but I must say that we are reticent: the Algerian security services are brutal and do not accord much importance to human rights."
However, in a statement Saturday, Hand Stewart said he was misquoted, and denied having referred to the "brutality" of the armed forces.
It "is distressing to include such remarks in an interview, such as were reported totally differently from the original statement", the ambassador said in a statement in French.
Le Matin also quoted Hand Stewart as saying Britain remained "attentive to the possibility that arms sold to Algeria go elsewhere, to Western Sahara, as was the case in the past." (Albawaba.com)
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