Brussels, 22/01/2014 (Agence Europe) - The EU trying to persuade Algeria to sign a comprehensive agreement on security, the implementation of which would cover the entire Sahel and Maghreb regions, according to Le Quotidien d'Oran, referring to the talks in Algiers last week of Michel Reyverand de Menthon, the representative of the EU for the Sahel region, and of Gilles de Kerchove, EU anti-terrorism coordinator.
The EU anti-terrorism coordinator goes straight to the heart of the matter, stressing that the “fusion and liaison unit (UFL) (Ed: intelligence branch) of CEMOC (Joint Operational Command) is an initiative which needs to be reinforced with assistance for training and expertise”. He stresses that “Algeria has expressed its availability for UFL agents to receive training”, the newspaper writes (our translation). The same source reports that de Kerchove welcomes the fact that “Algeria has developed joint actions with the Tunisian forces”. He notes that Algeria is no longer “immune” from the phenomenon of “young fighters in Syria” coming from the whole of the Mediterranean area but adds that “Algeria has started to develop very significant cooperation with Libya”. The newspaper goes on to report that he hopes that this cooperation will “become triangular, by including the EU”.
As regards the “weapons which have been dropped in Libya by NATO forces or distributed to the rebels by the Western intelligence services”, the European official stresses that the United States is carrying out the disposal of ground-ground missiles, the newspaper adds. (FB/transl.fl)