The EU and US have welcomed the meeting in Algiers of Foreign Ministers representing seven countries of the Sahel region to discuss issues of peace, security and development.
In a statement, the spokesperson of Catherine Ashton, High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice President of the Commission, said: “This meeting highlighted the constraints that terrorism and organised crime are posing to the economic and social development of the countries in the region.”
“Regional and international cooperation will be decisive in tackling the terrorist threat in this key region.”
The United States welcomed the efforts by the north African countries to improve counterterrorism cooperation.
"We hope the meeting will build upon ongoing efforts to strengthen regional cooperation and further consolidate collective action against groups that seek to exploit territories of these countries and launch attacks against innocent civilians," US State Department spokesman Philip J. Crowley said in a statement.
Seven north African states held talks Tuesday in Algeria to plan a coordinated response to Al-Qaeda following a dangerous rise in the terror threat in the Sahara-Sahel region, officials said.
The conference "indicates our shared will to take adequate and suitable steps in a coordinated manner" in response to the terror threat "which has seen dangerous developments," said Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci.
An Al-Qaeda offshoot in north Africa, Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), along with other criminal groups, has exploited the vast spaces of the Sahara and Sahel to hide from authorities after launching attacks or kidnapping foreigners.
"Obviously, putting into place effective and multifaceted border cooperation between our countries is crucial," Medelci said before he and his counterparts or their deputies from Burkina Faso, Chad, Libya, Mali, Mauritania and Niger began talks behind closed doors.
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