Medelci was in Paris for talks with France, Algeria’s former colonial ruler, about developments in the Arab world and the fight against Al-Qaeda in Africa’s Sahel region.

“Syria is a major concern for the Arab countries,” Mourad Medelci told French lawmakers. “Today it finds itself in a pre-civil war situation ...

“Today we are in a situation where we are putting pressure on the Syrian government and, on the other hand, talking to the opposition to create the conditions for dialogue,” he said.

“Outside of this dialogue this transition will not happen. We must give the maximum chance to this Arab initiative.”

Diplomatic efforts to resolve the crisis in Syria, now nearly nine months old, have stalled, with President Bashar Assad so far rejecting a peace plan offered in early November by the 22-state Arab League.

That plan calls for government forces to be withdrawn to barracks and Arab observers to be allowed into Syria.

Medelci said the observers were needed to ascertain exactly what was happening on the ground, as information coming out of Syria was not always clear.

France’s foreign minister, Alain Juppe, has already said the Syrian National Council, which is based in Paris, is the legitimate partner that France wants to work with.

Medelci said everything had to be done to avoid turning the conflict in Syria into an international one, as had occurred in Libya, where NATO forces helped to contribute to the eventual overthrow of Muammar Qaddafi.

Last month, Algeria abstained from a resolution in the UN General Assembly’s human rights committee that condemned Syria for its crackdown on pro-democracy protesters.

Arab League diplomats say Algeria, tightly controlled by a military-backed government, is more sympathetic to Assad than other nations in the group, and nervous about the message that any intervention in Syria would send to its own population.