Countries to fight terrorism
2009-09-07 11:00
Bamako - Military leaders from four countries in Africa's Sahel belt bordering the Sahara desert have worked out a plan for jointly tackling terrorism and cross-border crime, sources in Mali said on Sunday.
Representatives from the armies of Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger wrapped up their talks in Algeria on Sunday, the sources said.
"We have just wrapped up the details of a 'technical' plan that will allow our armies to work together to fight against terrorism and crime in the Sahel," a military official in Bamako said.
"We agreed with Algeria, Mauritania and Niger to rid our (Sahel) zone of terrorism and banditry," a Malian diplomat said.
Algeria shares a border with the three other countries and its security forces are under pressure from attacks by Islamist militants who claim to belong to al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI).
Several foreign nationals have also been kidnapped or detained in Mali and Niger in the past few months in operations also claimed by AQMI.
In Mauritania on August 8, a young suicide bomber blew himself up outside the French embassy in Nouakchott, slightly injuring two French paramilitary gendarmes and a Mauritanian woman.
The Sahel region has also been the scene of trafficking and smuggling of all kinds by organised crime groups.