Algeria Raises Preparedness, Coordination to Fight Danger Coming from Mali

Political Committee of the core countries, which includes the Foreign Ministers of Algeria, Niger, Mali, Mauritania, will meet in Niger’s capital Niamey nex 6 August, Minister Delegate in charge of the Maghreb and African Affairs, Abdelkader Messahel, said on Monday in Addis Ababa.

Messahel said in press statement, on the sidelines of the regular session of the 19th Summit of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union, in which he Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia will participate as a representative of the President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika; “This meeting comes after a meeting of the core countries, which was held in April 2012 in Nouakchott, and the meeting of the integration ‭and link unit that took place in Algiers on las June, and the council of the practical ‭common staff of army held on last July 11 in Nouakchott‭. ‬

The ‭decision to hold this meeting came after ‭consultation between the three countries, Algeria, Niger, ‭and Mauritania in ‭Addis Ababa, because the membership of Mali remains outstanding with the African Union after ‭ ‬ ‭ ‬ making changes that are opposite to the constitution of his country. ‬

The core countries are organized at three levels, the political level, which includes the Foreign Ministers, and the level of intelligence or what is known in these countries as unity of integration and connectivity, and the military level in what is known among these countries as the Council of the Common Practical Army Staff.

The meeting of August 6, comes in the context of efforts by the core countries in order to reach a solution to the situation prevailing in the north of Mali, in which Algeria, supported by the positions of many countries, including France and other countries of the EU, is tending to give priority to a political solution rather than to a military solution despite the large anarchy in ‭Mali, and ‭control of ‭terrorist groups on its northern cities. ‬