Leaders at a recent regional conference focus on development assistance and counter-terror efforts.
Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger will form a 75,000-man security force to police the Sahel-Saharan region.
The nations' foreign ministers agreed in Bamako on Friday (May 20th) to launch the force against al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and trans-border organised crime networks tied to terrorism. The Algiers-based Joint Military Staff Committee of the Sahel Region (CEMOC) will co-ordinate the new military force, deciding on each country's contribution.
"We're prepared for the battle against AQIM," Malian Foreign Minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga said. "Fighting terrorism doesn't mean turning the Sahel into a war zone," the minister commented, adding that officials "want to do permanent work and make the Sahara a stable region in terms of field work and military co-operation".
The challenges facing the region "impose focused planning and more serious co-ordination in our work," said Abdelkader Messahel, Algerian Minister for Maghreb and African Affairs. "We have to assess the dangerous developments that have new dimensions represented by the terrorist threat and its many overlaps."
The Bamako talks were capped with an agreement on holding regular ministerial meetings every six months, with the next gathering set for Nouakchott. The four countries also agreed to hold a summit in Algiers with external partner states with a stake in Sahel security.
"Our partners from outside the region, such as the European Union and the United States, will be invited to this meeting that will be probably held during the last quarter of this year," Messahel said. "Our countries have started to take action. Today, it is about enhancing the path that was kicked off to confront the terrorist threat and its branches."
Before the Bamako meeting, a ceremony was held where Algeria donated $10 million to Mali in order to foster development in impoverished and insecure regions. The grant will be dedicated for the areas of Gao, Kidal and Timbuktu, which in recent years have witnessed AQIM activity due to a weak security presence and rough terrain. Officials in Algeria said that the grant would be spent on projects relating to irrigation, health and vocational training.
"There won't be any peace or stability without developing the region," Messahel said, noting that the Bamako conference was held under special circumstances due to the situation in Libya, which contributes "to the fragile stability of the region". He pointed out that "the repercussions of conflict in Libya require a bit of caution on the part of regional countries that must draw up a joint strategy to deal with the new data that appeared as a result of that situation."
The ministers were particularly concerned about the possibility that al-Qaeda could acquire weapons from Libya.
"While the conflict in Ivory Coast has ended peacefully, another conflict broke out in Libya with the widespread proliferation of weapons; something that is alarming to us," Mauritanian Foreign Minister Hamadi Ould Hamadi said.
Meanwhile, Nigerien Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum condemned the payment of ransom for the release of hostages, saying that it "encourages the terrorists to kill as many people as possible".
The Sahel states expressed their relief for the progress made thus far on integration and co-operation efforts but they stressed the need to focus on developing border areas "where the long-standing relations between peoples were created in order to establish a historical fact based on exchanges and solidarity".
They noted that national efforts accompanied by bilateral co-operation were "a response to the legitimate needs of populations and requirements of sustainable development for all of the region's countries".
© Magharebia.com 2011
