G8 seeks Sahel anti-terrorism progress at Mali meet

By Tiemoko Diallo Tiemoko Diallo

BAMAKO (Reuters) – Security experts from G8 nations met in Mali Wednesday to try to improve anti-terrorism coordination in Africa’s Sahel zone, but the absence of Algerian officials underscored the lack of unity in the region.

Al Qaeda-linked fighters in the desert zone have raised their profile over the past year, stepping up attacks on local armies and making millions of dollars from ransom payments for hostages. They are currently holding seven foreign hostages taken from a mining town in Niger last month.

„Our desire is to focus on regional cooperation and encourage regional approaches,“ Virginie Saint-Louis, Canada’s ambassador to Mali, said at the opening ceremony of the G8 meeting, also attended by officials from Switzerland, Spain, the European Union and Australia.

Canada is leading the meeting, which has set up an action group for fighting terrorism, known as GACT. The body intends to help information-sharing and improve training in the region.

„The meeting will help GACT members better understand the challenges in the Sahel and work out what steps they can take to support the existing efforts,“ Saint-Louis said.

Experts say the Islamists — who only number a few hundred but have teamed up with bandits and local rebels, and take advantage of weak governments — can only be defeated through better coordination between Algeria, Mali, Niger and Mauritania.

But this has been hampered by complex relations between the nations, who have had a number of spats over the issue.

Officials in Bamako said it was a technical meeting that brought together counter-terrorism experts. Sahel nations were attending, they said, without giving further details. However, one security official who was at the meeting but asked not to be named, said Algiers had not sent any officials to the meeting.

„They are reticent. But the fact that they did not come denies them of the opportunity to present their case,“ he said.

Algeria is a military powerhouse that hosts the regional anti-terrorism headquarters at Tamanrasset and has previously rejected any other initiative from outside the region.

„It is up to the countries in the Sahel to fight al Qaeda … That is our position. It is a well-known position,“ an Algerian security source told Reuters, asking not to be named.

In the latest in a string of attacks on Westerners, the Islamists, known as AQIM, are holding seven foreigners, including five French citizens, who were kidnapped in Arlit, a mining town in Niger, last month. France has responded by sending troops to the region.

(Additional reporting by Lamine Chikhi; writing and additional reporting by David Lewis; Editing by Alison Williams)

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101013/wl_nm/us_africa_security_g8