Lamamra lashes out at French military intervention in northern Mali

Algeria’s Foreign Affairs Minister, Ramtane Lamamra, has hit out against those media reports which attributed the recent death by suicide of an Algerian consular diplomat based in the city of Lyon (France) to the undue moral leverage and harassment exerted on the deceased by a close relative of a former senior government official for recruitment purposes.

Lamamra said in this connection during a press conference held on Sunday in Algiers that such reports should not be taken for granted as two separate investigations were now being carried out by French and Algerian judicial services with the aim of shedding all the light on the exact circumstances surrounding the Algerian consular diplomat’s death.

Meanwhile, referring to the situation in Mali, Lamamra reiterated Algeria’s position in favour of an “inter-Malian inclusive dialogue, the only way to lay the foundation for genuine reconciliation between all Malians, a lasting peace and security in northern Mali and all over the country.”

There is an “unconditional support” for dialogue from the Malian president and Mauritanian president who is also chairman of the African Union (AU) together with the President of Burkina Faso, he added.

Ramtane Lamamra said that the solution to the crisis of Mali “is not military, but political, criticizing to this effect France’s military intervention in that country which didn’t succeed in remedying the security situation for good.”

Replying to a question on Libya, Algeria’s top diplomat insisted on the necessary compliance with the sovereignty and will of the Libyan people, regretting that the situation had gone from bad to worse there because of the seeds of terrorism.

According to Lamamra, an informal meeting on the disquieting Libya situation is slated to be held in Algiers, on  the sidelines of the 17^th ministerial meeting of the Non-Aligned Movement, and which will bring together the neighboring countries of Libya, namely Algeria, Tunisia, Nigeria, Chad, Sudan and Egypt.