By Paul Wood BBC Middle East correspondent

Bouteflika said the commission would not have judicial powers

New-York based Human Rights Watch says that if Algeria's new commission on disappearances is to be "credible and effective" it needs greater powers.

HRW says most of the disappearances took place in the early 1990s - at the height of Algeria's political violence.

But the report says disappearances are still happening today.

Police denials

In the centre of the capital, Algiers, you will sometimes come across small gatherings of people protesting about relatives who have disappeared.

Often they are women, standing in a small knot holding up photographs of sons and husbands detained by the security forces.

Last September, President Abdelaziz Bouteflika established the commission to find out exactly what happened to the more than 7,000 Algerians who disappeared after apparently being arrested by the security forces.

I say apparently, because as the case of Abdel Kader Mezouar illustrates, the police often won't confirm that they have somebody in detention.

Mr Mezouar, a 48-year-old mechanic, was seized by four men in plain clothes who came to his garage in an unmarked car.

The very same day the authorities sealed the garage, yet they told the man's father his son had been kidnapped by unknown individuals.

That was in July of last year and there has been no word of Mr Mezouar ever since.

In its report, Human Rights Watch cites the case to make the point that disappearances are still happening today.

'Weak powers'

The commission now investigating such disappearances is criticised by the group for, to quote the report, having "weak powers and a narrow mandate".

For instance, it cannot compel testimony, or force the security services to produce documents.

President Bouteflika himself has warned that his commission will not take on the role of the judicial authorities.

An Algerian court has never prosecuted a member of the security services over one of these disappearances.

Algerians themselves have a saying: "Most countries have an army - our army has a country."