Brussels, 28/01/2013 (Agence Europe) - On Sunday evening, two gas pipeline security guards were killed and seven people were injured in a new Islamic attack at Djebahia in the Bouira region, 100 miles to the south of the Algerian capital Algiers. Two days earlier, Algerian Foreign Minister Mourad Medelci said the balance sheet of the Algerian army's intervention in the hostage crisis at the In Amenas gasfield was more positive than negative, but admitted that mistakes had been made and they were being examined. He was speaking on Friday at the World Economic Forum in Davos and Algérie-Focus points out that the announcement from a state representative came as a surprise because the minister admitted that Algeria had been at a loss during the hostage taking at the In Amenas gas field because it is could not be resolved through negotiation. The same news source says Medelci also admitted that Algeria needed foreign aid to protect against the terrorist threat and would probably be boosting security at oil and gas sites in the country where multinational companies are operating.
Early last week, the Algerian prime minister, Abdelmaled Sellal, called on Arab nations to take action against terrorism and attacks on Islam saying that these attacks were not about Islam, but by terrorism and mercenaries and threatened the very existence of Islamic countries. He said the Islamic religion had to be defended, along with civilisation itself, which the terrorist were in the process of destroying. How on earth could anyone imagine such acts being carried out in the name of Islam, he wondered.
The prime minister went on to say that Algeria was suffering the consequences of what was going on outside its borders, referring to Tunisia (several of the gas field terrorists were Tunisian) and arms-trafficking from Libya. Sellal responded to Arab critics (like the Egyptian president Morsi) of Algeria's allowing France to use its airspace for attacks on the Muslim country of Mali by pointing out that Algeria believes in the integrity and sovereignty of Mali and has encouraged a political solution since the crisis broke out to win back those who were against the central powers in Mali, but Algeria has never ruled out a military solution against terrorists because it refuses to allow the region to turn into “Sahelistan”. (FB/transl.fl)