Internationalisation of anti-terror fight refused

Malian president Amadou Toumani Touré stated from Algiers that his country ‘’refused any foreign military presence in his country, even if this was in a form of help to fight against terrorism.’’ Touré made his statement to the Algerian television. The Malian Head of State left Algiers Thursday after a four day visit.

” Mali, just as Algeria, very jealous of its independence and of its security, will not accept in any way that a foreign military force intervenes in the country even if this force came to help in the anti-terrorist fight” it is with these very words that Mr.  Touré wound-up his visit to Algeria.  For Mr. Touré, it is necessary to avoid “implicating foreign forces” to manage a situation that ‘’our’’ countries

(Algeria-Mali-Niger and Mauritania) would undoubtedly master.

Amadou Toumani Touré headed for Algiers immediately after the abduction in the night of Saturday to Sunday of two Spanish young humanitarian workers as well as an Italian citizen in the town of Rabuni near Tindouf, an area where the Arab Democratic Sahraoui Republic Government has its Headquarters..  The attack is attributed by the Polisario front to the North African branch of Al qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).  The Polisario front asserted that the abductors swept in from Mali, which was refuted Monday by a Malian minister who responded under the cover of anonymity.  The Head of the Malian State indicated that the questions linked to the Libyan crisis and to the proliferation of the weapons had been at the center of his discussions with his Algerian counterpart, Mr. Abdelaziz Bouteflika, during his four days visit.  “Today, entire armies leave Libya heavily armed back to their original countries, and Mali is part of these countries “, he underlined.  Touré considered that the cooperation was the best response to a better and best adapted strategy to fight efficiently against terrorism and than the two countries had “a common vision that allows us to put our effort together to fight against terrorism and its connections”.  It is worth recalling that Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger have a cooperation military body composed of the operational chiefs of staffs installed in Tamanrasset, in the Algerian Hoggar.