Radical fighters from Syria reportedly heading for troubled Libya

“Streamlining and pooling efforts will contribute to addressing the scourges now wracking the Sahel countries, with on focus the relentless struggle against criminality and terrorism”, said Sunday in Algiers, representatives of Sahel countries.

“By mustering the necessary efforts, we can truly contribute to improving the quality of the life of the Sahel’s populations which will doubtless have a positive impact on the required stamping out of criminality seen as a real scourge in the Sahel region,” Mali’s representative Cheikh Tidiane Sow said.

He made the statement to the press on the sidelines of a workshop on border security in the countries of the Sahel-Saharan region organized in Algiers.

He indicated that such a meeting of the member countries of “Fusion and Liaison Unit” (-UFL-) comprising Algeria, Burkina Faso, Libya, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Nigeria and Chad was geared to contributing to the improvement of border security, particularly in those countries plagued by cross-border criminality and smuggling, like Mali, Niger and Mauritania.

He added that there were reports of numerous radical fighters in Syria intent on establishing terrorist bases in troubled Libya in view of the latest developments unfolding in the region

For his part, Mauritania’s representative at UFL Mohamed Ouled Chaibat called for combining efforts and coordinating actions because of the looming dangers which threaten these countries’ borders.

He also emphasized that the active association with Spain to strengthen border security in collaboration with the Guardia Civil (Spanish State security forces) reflects the growing interest of Europeans in the role they’re bound to perform in the entire region for the sake of peace and stability. 

“Algeria which belongs to Sahel region has more than 2,400 km of borders with the Sahel countries. It is also a direct neighbor of the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS),” the Algerian foreign minister Ramtane Lamamra told a news conference earlier in the day, while underlining that Algeria and the regional countries have “common concerns and a common destiny.”

Lamamra recalled that Algeria had provided and continues to provide aid of all kinds to the neighbor countries and to the Sahel countries, stressing that there are “consultations in various fields, chiefly on matters of security.”

“The relations between Algeria and the Sahel countries are organic and strategic. They are built on common interests,” the foreign minister underlined.