A recent resurgence of terrorist attacks by suspected Islamic radicals in Algeria and its surrounding areas has dealt a blow to resource-poor Japan's efforts to lubricate long-creaky relations with the oil-and-gas rich North African country.

Since taking office nearly three years ago, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika has sought to convince foreign governments and investors that security in the long terrorism-beset country is on the mend.

He has done so in an attempt to get foreign aid and investment streams flowing, hoping they can help shore up an ailing economy.

And his efforts seemed to have borne fruit, at least vis-a-vis the Japanese government, which upgraded its official assessment of the security conditions in Algiers and its surrounding areas before violence flared up again in recent months.

Since earlier this year Japan has been considering a first provision of full-scale official development assistance for Algeria as early as next year, according to government sources.

It would be the first full-scale ODA package shipped to the country in more than a decade.

But the recent worsening of security conditions in and around the Algerian capital has stalled further consideration of the ODA package -- at least temporarily.

In early May, suspected Islamic extremists conducted two overnight attacks in the province of Tiaret, 230 km west of Algiers, that killed 31 people.

"We have been considering dispatching an economic cooperation mission to Algeria as soon as possible to see if security conditions in Algiers and its surrounding areas have actually improved enough to make it possible for Japan to resume full-scale ODA," one government source said. "But because of the recent resurgence in terrorist attacks, we will have to delay the mission for the time being."

Since the early 1990s, Japan has refrained from providing full-scale ODA to Algeria because of the extremely poor security conditions in the North African country.

Indeed, since the early 1990s Algeria-bound ODA has been strictly limited to small amounts of grants-in-aid, for such purposes as emergency disaster relief, and to technical cooperation that does not involve the dispatch of experts.

The only official yen loan provided during the period consisted of 2 billion yen extended in 1996 as part of Algeria's debt rescheduling agreement with the so-called Paris club of creditor governments.

In Algeria, which won independence from France in 1962, more than 100,000 people have been killed in a deadly civil war that erupted nearly 10 years ago when the army canceled national elections that the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), a Muslim fundamentalist party, was set to win.

But the overall security conditions have improved significantly since Bouteflika was elected president in April 1999, pledging to bring "civil concord" to the war-torn country and granting amnesty to surrendering radical Islamic rebels.

Despite Bouteflika's attempts to reach out to his opponents, sporadic acts of terrorism have continued in the North African country, especially in its rural areas.

Bilateral ties with the country have been long dormant. No Japanese Cabinet minister has visited the North African country since January 1982, when the late Michio Watanabe went there as finance minister.

Full-scale resumption of ODA is important to the Arab nation of 30 million as it could serve as priming water for risk-averse Japanese companies, who may follow the government's lead and invest in Algeria.

That Japan is considering resuming full-scale ODA apparently reflects a strong desire to strengthen relations with the oil- and gas-rich country in the medium and long terms.

Japan imports almost all of the oil it consumes but gets none of its oil-needs from the North African country.

The Japanese move also comes as the United States administration of President George W. Bush is reportedly considering military assistance for the Bouteflika government as part of its global war on terrorism, which was launched in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.

Despite its vast oil and gas resources, Algeria is saddled with $30 billion in foreign debt and a high unemployment rate.

To rebuild its battered economy, the country is trying to restructure inefficient state-run companies, promote free-market reforms and attract more foreign investment.