Algiers: Seven north African states held
talks on Tuesday in Algeria to plan a coordinated response to
al Qaeda following a dangerous rise in the terror threat in
the Sahara-Sahel region, officials said.
The conference "indicates our shared will to take
adequate and suitable steps in a coordinated manner" in
response to the terror threat "which has seen dangerous
developments," said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci.
An al Qaeda offshoot in north Africa, al Qaeda in the
Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), along with other criminal groups, have
exploited the vast spaces of the Sahara and Sahel to hide from
authorities after launching attacks or kidnapping foreigners.
Greater and more effective cooperation in patrolling
borders is "crucial" Medelci said as he and his counterparts
or their deputies from Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali,
Mauritania and Niger began talks behind closed doors.
Medelci condemned growing links between terror and
criminal groups in the region which has seen a rise in weapons
and drug smuggling.
AQIM, which in the past couple of years has kidnapped a
number of foreigners in the region, is still believed to be
hiding in the northern Malian desert two kidnapped Spaniards
and two Italians.
PTI
First Published: Tuesday, March 16, 2010, 20:33