MALI: Mali says Sahara nations will set-up joint desert force to secure their shared Sahara-Sahel zone
Record ID:
860432
MALI: Mali says Sahara nations will set-up joint desert force to secure their shared Sahara-Sahel zone
- Title: MALI: Mali says Sahara nations will set-up joint desert force to secure their shared Sahara-Sahel zone
- Date: 21st May 2011
- Summary: BAMAKO, MALI (MAY 20, 2011) (REUTERS) DELEGATION MEMBERS OUTSIDE FOREIGN MINISTRY BUILDING FOREIGN MINISTERS ENTERING CONFERENCE HALL VARIOUS OF MINISTERS SEATED VARIOUS OF PARTICIPANTS LISTENING (SOUNDBITE) (French) MALI'S FOREIGN MINISTER, SOUMEYLOU BOUBEYE MAIGA, SAYING: (APPROXIMATE TRANSLATION) "Our countries will train and mobilise, over the next 18 months, an army corps and various specialisms, made up of 75,000 soldiers, up from 25,000, in the fight against terrorism and trans-national crime." VARIOUS OF AUDIENCE LISTENING VARIOUS OF ALGERIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MOURAD MELDECI ADDRESSING DELEGATES VARIOUS OF AUDIENCE LISTENING VARIOUS OF MINISTERS POSING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS OUTSIDE MINISTRY BUILDING DELEGATES LEAVING CONFERENCE HALL
- Embargoed: 5th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Mali, Mali
- City:
- Country: Mali
- Topics: International Relations
- Reuters ID: LVA49F7EZP40IWVR10CDA307DQ2L
- Aspect Ratio:
- Story Text: Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Algeria will set up, within 18 months, a joint force of up to 75,000 soldiers to secure their shared Sahara-Sahel desert zone, Mali's foreign minister said on Friday (May 20).
The four nations are struggling to control the zone, where al Qaeda's North African wing has stepped up attacks and is operating alongside smugglers, rebels and local criminals.
A joint command centre has been established in Tamanrasset, in southern Algeria, but regional rivalries and the lack of trust between the countries have long stymied a coordinated regional approach that European nations and the U.S. have called for.
"Our countries will train and mobilise, over the next 18 months, an army corps and various specialisms, made up of 75,000 soldiers, up from 25,000, in the fight against terrorism and trans-national crime," Malian Foreign Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said at a meeting in Mali.
Leaders from the four nations gathered in Mali to look at security issues, including the fall-out from the conflict in Libya, which experts say has increased the access to arms.
Al Qaeda's regional faction, known as AQIM, has grabbed headlines, largely by kidnapping Westerners for large ransom payments, but also for carrying out a handful of attacks on regional armies.
Four Frenchmen and an Italian woman are currently being held by the group.
But broader criminality, linked to smuggling, corruption and banditry is seen as a high risk in poor desert communities, especially in Mali and Niger, where there are lingering complaints about marginalisation.
The tourists who once travelled into the desert regions have stopped coming while mining firms operating in the region have had to take added precautions and complain of higher security costs. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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