The first meeting to be held by the forum is scheduled for September 21st in New York and will bring together countries with capacities and valuable experience in combating terrorism, said Mr. Messahel at a press conference held Sunday in Algiers.

He was speaking in view of the conference on partnership, security and development, on one side Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger and on the other side, international partners, to take place between September 7 and 8.

The Algerian minister said that the UN “has difficulty, over the last few years, to give a definition to terrorism,” though this did not prevent it to design a global framework for the fight against terrorism.

He recalled the adoption by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1904 which criminalizes the payment of ransom to terrorist groups to set free hostages.

Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger are experiencing serious terrorist threats posed by Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI), which is carrying out terror attacks in the desert stretching between the four countries.

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This operation has been ongoing since June 20, said the Malian Ministry of Defense and Veterans by ensuring the commitment of the Malian armed forces to work with Mauritania and improve security along their shared border.

In July 2010, Mauritania and France had led a joint operation against al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQMI) operating inside Mali. The Mauritanian national army said it had killed seven members of the Salafist organization thought to be associated with AQMI.

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The police reportedly arrested militants including the activist Vadil Boumala, one of the organizers of the protest march.

There has been a large deployment of Algerian security forces in the capital, especially at the ‘Mauritania’ Square, not far from the 1st May Square, where the march started from.

Security was also beefed up at the various checkpoints set at the city’s main entries, to prevent possible attacks by militants of Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).

The march received no support from the country’s major political parties, trade unions or officially registered Islamic parties.

On Friday, the authorities broke a rally of solidarity with the Egyptian revolution, organized by dozens of supporters of the ‘Regroupement pour la culture et la democratie’ (Rally for Culture and Democracy) which called for a protest march last month that the administration refused to allow.

Officially, the ban on demonstrations is limited to the area of Algiers.

Source African Press Agency

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The UK Foreign Office admitted this week that the new travel advisory to British tourists has raised the threat in and around Mali’s often-quoted oasis town to “high” after a surge in kidnappings of Westerners by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim), amid what officials viewed as a growing terror cell inspired by Osama bin Laden which is widening its reach across the unpoliced Sahara desert.

Now the town on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert – long a metaphor for alluring and remote destinations – is likely to be less appealing for even the most intrepid holidaymakers.

Two world famous music festivals, Sahara Nights and the Festival in the Desert, are also in the affected areas.

Officials highlighted that ”there is a high threat from terrorism,” the new travel advice reads.

“Terrorists have been involved in kidnaps in the region and we believe that further kidnap attacks are likely.”

A British tourist, Edwin Dyer, was murdered in Mali in June after he and his party were kidnapped in January on the Mali-Niger border.

Last week in Niger, gunmen tried to seize a group of US embassy employees, officials said.

Aqim is understood to be using ransom money to attract new recruits and buy weapons, in order to extend its terror reach south from its traditional targets in Algeria .

“We know al-Qaeda is looking to spread its activities in areas it believes state security is inadequate and weak, and the population is poor,” said Ivan Lewis, the Foreign Office minister, after a visit to the region on Monday.

As many as 10,000 people travel to Timbuktu each year, according to the local tourist office, drawn by its history as a trade hub and center for Islamic scholarship which stretches back.

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The Court of Salé, near Rabat, in charge of terrorism cases, has imposed 20 years’ imprisonment on Abdelkrim Makhloufi presented as the brain behind the group, including preparations for terrorist acts on Moroccan territory.

They are also prosecuted for preparation of a project aimed at disrupting public order.

Twelve other defendants were sentenced to 5 years imprisonment and 12 years for a respondent. Other sentences ranged from 3 years against six defendants to 2 years for eight others.

The prosecution accused the Moroccan cell of belonging to “Al Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb” and the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) in Algeria. ”

Since the terrorist attacks in Casablanca on 16 May 2003 which claimed 45 deaths, including 12 suicide bombers, a thousand Islamists had been jailed.

In 2008, 100 sentences were passed in Morocco against accused Islamists ranging from one to 30 years imprisonment.

The Moroccan anti-terrorism court has also cleared some defendants.

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A statement released on Sunday in Nouakchott by the French Embassy in Mauritania, expressed “heartfelt condolences to the nation and Mauritanian army.”

The Embassy has also reiterated its “strongest condemnation of the terrorist attack” committed on September 14 in Turin, 800 km north of Nouakchott.

The Mauritanian government on Saturday decreed a three-day national mourning and permanent reading of the Koran on both the state-owned radio and television.

In June 2005, the GSPC attacked the Lemghaity garrison in the north of the country, killing 15 Mauritanian soldiers and wounding 17 others.

Thirty Salafists, led by El Khadim Ould Semman, are currently languishing in prison in Nouakchott while awaiting trial.

Semman and others allegedly perpetrated several armed operations in Mauritania, among them, the murder of 4 French tourists in December 2007.

They also allegedly killed 3 Mauritanian soldiers a few days later in the north of the country and attacked the Israeli Embassy in February 2008 and were also involved in a bloody clash with police in broad daylight in Nouakchott, in June of the same year.

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The same source said that no one claimed responsibility for the attack and it is still unknown whether there have been any injuries. No official reason has been given.

The Lemghaity garrison had experienced a similar attack in the same region on 4 June 2005 during which 15 Mauritanian soldiers were killed and 17 others wounded.

This 2005 attack had been claimed by the Salafist Group for preach and Fight (GSPC) dubbed Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

About thirty elements affiliated to the Salafist groups led by El Khadim Ould Semman, are being held in jail in Nouakchott pending their trial.

They are alleged to have carried out several armed operations in Mauritanian including the killing of four French tourists in December 2007, the murder of three Mauritanian soldiers a few days later, the attack on the Israeli embassy in February 2008 and the deadly clash with the police in the Nouakchott streets in June of the same year.

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