Brussels, 22/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator Gilles de Kerchove said in an interview published in the Algiers el Watan on Thursday 18 February and published online by the EU Delegation to Algeria that the country has a special role to play in the security of the region (North Africa and Sahel). Algeria, he said, “has developed centres of expertise which could be very useful to us”. It has, furthermore, “a regional responsibility: the more involved it becomes in the region, the better it is for us”, he said.
De Kerchove points out that the European Council has already decided to “increase EU engagement with its neighbours to seek to create security and counter-terrorism partnerships”. In his view, this issue affects the region as a whole: “We know that the countries of the Mediterranean rim all face the same challenges: Morocco, Tunisia, Jordan have a great many nationals who have travelled to fight with Daesh in Syria or in Libya. They will have to face the situation when these fighters return to their home countries”.
Then there is what can be done together: “for example, training the Libyan police”. De Kerchove highlights, however, that the EU is “not authorised to express a view on whether intervention is needed” in Libya, “as it is not a military force”. “The position of the European Union is one of support for efforts to form a Libyan government as quickly as possible. We need an interlocutor to try to find a solution to the many challenges facing Libya”, he said. He pointed out that “since there is no central government with which to discuss, we have worked with a number of mayors”. (Original version in French by Fathi B'Chir)