Algiers, March 16: Seven north African states held talks 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.
—Agencies