Algeria hosts trans-Sahel meeting: source

The coordinative ministerial conference due to be held in Algeria on Tuesday will focus on security developments in the trans-Sahel over the last few weeks, said an official at the foreign ministry.

• Foreign ministers of Algeria, Burkinafaso, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Chad will attend the meeting in Algiers to assess the trans-Sahel, a desert area where terror acts are escalating.
•  
• The meeting will examine bilateral and regional measures meant to end the increasing problems and boost economic development in the region.
•  
• The conference comes two weeks after Mali freed terrorists wanted by Algeria and Mauritania for the release of French hostage Pierre Camatte. Algeria and Mauritania’s ambassadors were summoned as Mali ignored bilateral and regional conventions.
•  
• Speaking on condition of anonymity, the official told Echorouk the meeting will not be intended against the Malian government nor will it be an attempt to trigger hostility amid the region’s countries towards Bamako.
•  
• “Vulnerability and poverty in some countries in the region can not be a justification to not respect its bilateral or regional commitments,” he said.
•  
• “The main danger in the trans-Sahel is terrorism which is extending day after day. The region’s countries should know that their problems must be solved domestically,” he added.
•  
• He believes that the Touaregs issue is mainly social. “Because of that, there is no justification for a foreign interference.”
•  
• He also Algeria played an important role in the elimination of increasing scourges in the region. “The country offered $10 million to Bamako as part of a development endeavour in the Malian areas next to southern Algeria.”