APS : Thursday, 05 July 2018
ALGIERS- Algeria has become a “school” in the fight against terrorism and deradicalization, affirmed Thursday Minister of Foreign Affairs Abdelkader Messahel.
“We’ve become a school not only in the fight against terrorism, but also in deradicalization,” Messahel told the Algerian Radio, adding that “Algeria is today one of the countries in the vanguard of the fight against terrorism in the world.”
He said that the fight against terrorism and deradicalization are currently among the themes of all the agendas in the international forums where “we are much involved,” notably in the strategy of the United Nations of the fight against terrorism and the Global Counterterrorism Forum.
“President of the Republic was appointed by his peers to be the coordinator of Africa in the alliance of nations in the African Union strategy of the fight against terrorism,” he said.
About the issue of non-interference, Messahel expressed Algeria’s conviction that the conflicts couldn’t be resolved from the outside, but through the involvement of the internal players, underlining that in the Sahel “Algeria is making an invaluable contribution.” It does it, he stressed, through the training of the counterterrorism special units in Mali and Niger and throughout its logistical supports to these countries.
Concerning the conflict of Western Sahara, he said that “Africa has reaffirmed its support to the initiative which consists in reaching the decolonization process through negotiations between the two sides and as part of the exercise by the Sahrawi people of their right to self-determination.”
About the attacks on Algeria concerning what has been described as “ill-treatment of migrants,” Messahel said that there is “manipulation,” adding that “the escorting (of migrants) is made within the framework of respect of the human dignity and commitments that we have made with our neighbors.”
Concerning the Algerian-American relations, Messahel said that they are “good” and that the dialogue between the two countries is “permanent.”
In his reply to a question on the recent attempt of introducing a quantity of cocaine to Algeria, he said that “we have drawn the attention to the relation that exists between terrorism and organized crime.”
