Algeria to provide humanitarian aid to Mali refugees

Algeria sent a humanitarian assistance to Malians who fled the fighting between Tuareg rebels and the Malian army and took refuge in Niger, Bourkina Faso and Mauritania, Minister Delegate in charge of Maghreb and Africa Affairs, Abdelkader Messahel said.

Abdelkader Messahel added, on the sidelines of talks with Burkina Faso Foreign Minister Djibril Bassole, in Algiers that humanitarian aid will be provided this week end to Malian refugees who left the north of the country due to the events that occurred in the region.

 Messahel, quoted by the APS, added that an “urgent political solution” is needed for the crisis in northern Mali, in the framework of “respect for the territorial unity” of this country and “direct negotiations between the Malian government and opposition.

 Number of Malian refugees scattered over Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Niger and Algeria, reached 65.000, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said Friday.

 Mali forces are fighting, since January 17 against attacks by the Tuareg rebels in several localities and bases of armed troops in the northern part of the country.

Assaults are led by men of the Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) and other rebels, including men heavily armed who fled Libya following the death of Muammar Kaddafi.