Algeria sends troops to Mali border
[MAGHAREBIA] The Algerian army beefed up its positions on the border with war-torn Mali, a Tamanrasset parliamentarian said on Monday (February 4th).
"It's about preventing the infiltration of terrorist groups," Mohamed Baba Ali told AFP. "Without these reinforcements, there would have been terrorist incursions from northern Mali."
On Tuesday, Maghreb Affairs Minister Abdelkader Messahel will join representatives of the UN, the African Union and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in Brussels for an international ministerial meeting on Mali, APS reported.
In related news, dozens of French warplanes carried out major air strikes in north-eastern Mali. Ansar al-Din and al-Qaeda fighters fled to the Adrar des Ifoghas region, near the Algerian border, after the fall of Kidal.
"They can only stay there long-term if they have ways to replenish their supplies. So the army, in a very efficient manner, is stopping them from doing so." French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said.
Posted by: Fred 2013-02-06