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| Africa North |
| Algeria combats arms smuggling from Niger, Mali |
| 2009-04-30 |
| [Maghrebia] Algeria deployed military reinforcements to the southern provinces of Adrar and Ouargla, local press reported on Wednesday (April 29th). The move aims at cracking down on arms trafficking networks that supply weapons from Niger and Mali to al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb. The group's leader in the border region, Mokhtar Belmokhtar, reportedly resumed armed terrorist activities following the failure of his negotiations with Algerian authorities to surrender under the Charter for Peace and National Reconciliation. Since launching the operation last week, the army has already thwarted a major trafficking operation near Mkdene, Adrar province, sources said. In related news, Malian authorities said Tuesday that a 2-year investigation, completed with the assistance of international experts, found that 80 % of weapons used by terrorists and criminals along the Algerian border come from West African "conflict zones", El Khabar reported. |
| Posted by:Fred |