Britain Hails Algeria Counterterrorism Efforts, Searby

Britain PM’s Advisor for Counterterrorism Affairs Robin Searby said Algeria is still a key country in terms of counterterrorism in the region, and remains an essential partner to Britain in this domain.

The APS news agency has quoted General Robin Searby as saying that Algeria plays a key role in drawing up a unified counterterrorism approach among the African Sahel countries, adding that the North African nation has gained a lot of experience in this field. “We hope that Algeria to maintain her leading role in terms of countering the growing risk of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb,” he said, adding: “In Britain, we are looking forward getting profit of the Algerian experience.”

“Algeria is working on drawing up a comprehensive counterterrorism approach in the region, and it’s very important to work together to curb such a common threat,” the British official said.

Britain is due to attend the Algiers international conference on counterterrorism and organized crime on 7 and 8 September.

In this regard, Mr Searby specified that his country supports such initiative, which is to be seized as an opportunity to reassert its full support to Algeria and to all the countries of the region in the field of countering terrorism and trans-borders organized crime.

He concluded that relations between Algeria and UK in the military and security fields are “excellent, open and in steady progress,” adding that “We look forward sharing experience in this field with our friends in Algeria.”