South Europe, north Africa close ranks on security
22 May 2008 19:03:30 GMT Source: Reuters
By Noiselle Champagne NOUAKCHOTT, May 22 (Reuters) - States from southern Europe and north Africa agreed on Thursday to share intelligence and work together to fight terrorism, drug-trafficking and illegal migration in the Western Mediterranean. Ministers of the 10-nation Western Mediterranean interior ministers' conference (CIMO) held cooperation talks in the west Saharan state of Mauritania, where al Qaeda gunmen have killed French tourists and local soldiers in the last six months. In recent years, the Islamic republic straddling Arab and black Africa has also become a transit point for thousands of illegal migrants, and drug shipments, headed for Europe. The ministers and officials discussed ways of improving exchanges of information and collaboration to confront transnational security risks seen threatening both the southern flank of Europe and the north of Africa. "Each country was able to express its willingness to confront common threats together, especially terrorism," French Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie told reporters. "The southern countries -- Libya, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania -- insisted on the importance of communication and education to halt this phenomenon (of terrorism)," another official in the French delegation told Reuters. Besides France, the other European countries which participated were Spain, Portugal, Italy and Malta. In recent years, north African countries have suffered bomb blasts and other attacks carried out by Islamic militants, including the north African branch of al Qaeda. Spain and other southern European states have also been targeted. In the last six months, this violence has extended to Mauritania, where al Qaeda gunmen killed four French tourists picknicking by the road in December. Several Mauritanian soldiers were also killed in a separate attack in December. Mauritania's Interior Minister Mohamed Yehdhih Ould Moctar El Hacen said the meeting had allowed the ministers to draw up strategies to share intelligence and conduct operations. "We're obviously interested in any aid and assistance our friends and partners at this conference can give us," he said. The interior ministers also agreed on a pilot project to create a centre to coordinate the fight against drug-trafficking in the Western Mediterranean. They pledged to continue cooperation to stem the flow of illegal migrants through their territories, and to facilitate legal migration. (For full Reuters Africa coverage and to have your say on the top issues, visit: http://africa.reuters.com/) (Editing by Pascal Fletcher & Richard Meares)
Moroccan men wait at the border between Spain and Morocco in Ceuta January 31, 2008. Illegal migrants see Spain's enclaves in Morocco as gateways to a better life in Europe, but ...
