ALGERIAN MINSTATE SAYS REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS CAN

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 04 ALGIERS 000962

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/18/2019
TAGS: PREL PTER PGOV MCAP MOPS SNAR AG ML MR NG
UV, US
SUBJECT: ALGERIAN MINSTATE SAYS REGIONAL GOVERNMENTS CAN
COUNTER AQIM

REF: A. ALGIERS 765

B. ALGIERS 825

ALGIERS 00000962 001.2 OF 004


Classified By: Ambassador David D. Pearce; reasons 1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) SUMMARY: Minister of State for African and Maghreb
Affairs Abdelkader Messahel told Deputy Assistant Secretary
of Defense (DASD) Ambassador Vicki Huddleston on October 17
that governments in the Sahel region have the resources to
combat terrorism and criminal networks and have agreed on the
need for coordinated action. He estimated there are 200 -
250 al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) insurgents active
in the Sahel, including 100 Mauritanians. Algeria led the
effort to hold a joint meeting of regional security and
defense chiefs in Tamanrasset in July to discuss planning
coordination, and a sub-regional heads of state summit in
Bamako (to include Algeria, Mali, Mauritania, Libya, Niger,
Chad and Burkina Faso) will take place before the end of the
year to elaborate a security and development action plan.
Messahel said cooperation with Tunisia, Libya, Niger and
Mauritania was already strong, but Mali's commitment to fight
terrorism was insufficient and too focused on the Tuareg
rebellion. Messahel concluded that governments in the
sub-region must take the lead in fighting AQIM and criminal
networks. The international community and the United States
could assist by providing intelligence, technical resources
and training for capacity-building. END SUMMARY.


WE HAVE THE RESOURCES TO COMBAT AQIM
--------------


2. (C) Algerian Minister of State for African and Maghreb
Affairs Abdelkader Messahel told visiting DASD Ambassador
Vicki Huddleston October 17 that regional governments have
the resources to combat terrorism and share a common
willingness to eliminate terrorist and criminal networks in
the Sahel. Messahel noted that defense and security chiefs
from Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger met in July to
discuss cooperation and coordination. Planning, he said, was
still on track to convene a "sub-regional" heads of state
summit in Bamako by the end of the year to include Algeria,
Mali, Mauritania, Libya, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso (ref
A). Messahel emphasized that a number of ministerial and
sub-ministerial meetings have already taken place to prepare
the summit's joint declaration and action plan for the
summit, which, he said, will call for increased levels of
coordination, intelligence sharing and training among
security forces in the region. Each country has a specific
role to contribute, he said, and the meeting in Bamako will
define how each country fits into the framework for
coordination.


3. (C) Messahel attributed the delay in organizing the summit
to difficulties synchronizing leaders' schedules, the slow
work pace during Ramadan, and awaiting Mauritania's
reinstatement in the AU. Any attempt at regional
counterterrorism coordination, he said, had to consider
Mauritania's crucial role. Messahel estimated that between
200 and 250 al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM)
insurgents were present in the Sahel, 100 of whom were
Mauritanians. With its constitutional crisis resolved and AU
membership reinstated, Mauritania could now participate
fully. Messahel claimed that Malian President Toure had
caused misunderstanding by attempting to internationalize the
summit by inviting France, the United States and ECOWAS
countries, further delaying summit preparations. Messahel
underscored Algeria's view that participation at the summit
should be limited to countries in the region, adding: "We
cannot hide behind France and the United States." Despite
delays, Messahel noted that governments had pressed forward
with working-level coordination. He believed Mali would fix
a summit date soon.


4. (C) Huddleston commended Algeria's efforts to fight
terrorism and said we recognized Algeria's leadership in
sensitizing countries in the region to this common threat.
The U.S. was very concerned about AQIM's activities in the
Sahel and is following events in the region closely. DASD
Huddleston noted that the U.S. began to focus on terrorism in
the Sahel in 2003 after the Salafist Group for Combat and
Preaching (GSPC) held a group of 15 European tourists hostage
in northern Mali. In 2006, the U.S. began Operation Enduring

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Freedom in the Trans-Sahara, part of the Trans-Saharan
Counter Terrorism Partnership, which includes the seven
countries invited to the Bamako summit and others.


5. (C) Huddleston said our countries' efforts to work with
Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Burkina Faso have much in
common. The U.S. faced the same dilemma as the AU regarding
Mauritania, but USG assistance, including our train and equip
program with Mauritania, was coming back on line. Human
rights concerns in Chad and Niger posed similar constraints
on our ability to provide assistance. We hoped to be able to
work with Chad again soon, but Niger President Tandja's bid
for a third term in office forced the U.S. to suspend its
programs. Huddleston emphasized that the U.S. has always
considered Mali a priority because hostages from the region
have been held there and AQIM/GSPC has been most active in
that country. Huddleston said the U.S. had conducted
training exercises in Gao and Timbuktou and planned to step
up training and equipment assistance to Mali's military.
Huddleston underscored her hope that U.S. assistance to Mali
would complement Algerian efforts.

CONCERN ABOUT MALI
--------------


6. (C) Messahel replied that the U.S. and Algeria share the
same concerns and are "targeting the same space." He agreed
that Mali has to be the focus. Messahel commented that
security cooperation with neighboring countries like Tunisia,
Libya, Niger and Mauritania has traditionally been strong,
but cooperation with Mali has been difficult. Messahel
called Mali's efforts to fight terrorism insufficient and too
focused on the Tuareg rebellion. Under the 2006 Algiers
Accord, Algeria helped Mali "solve" its conflict with Tuareg
tribes in the north by promoting integration of Tuaregs into
mixed units with Malian forces and paying others to lay down
their arms. "The Tuareg rebellion is no longer a valid
argument." AQIM is the priority, Messahel concluded, and
Tuareg and Berabiche populations can play a key role.
Algeria wants Mali's leadership and the Tuaregs and Berabiche
tribes to have a single agenda. "Mali is the weak link."


THREATS BEYOND TERRORISM
--------------


7. (C) Messahel said terrorism was not the only threat to
stability in the Sahel. The region's harsh climate, the
delicate balance of tribal relationships and criminal
networks tied to illegal smuggling were also factors.
Solutions for the region had to address development as well
as security. Messahel described projects for water drilling,
vocational training and health centers that Algeria has
supported in Mali and Niger. He said the GOA had spent USD
10 million over two years on projects in Kidal, Gao and
Timbuktou to bring social balance between the Tuareg and
Berabiche populations. Algeria also helped with the
construction of a 4,600-kilometer road connecting Kidal to
Lagos and Algiers, of which 4,200 kilometers were complete.
There are 100 kilometers left to complete in Algeria and 300
kilometers remaining in Niger, he said, for which work would
soon begin. Another major infrastructure project involved
the construction of a Trans-Saharan gas pipeline connecting
Nigeria and Algeria. Messahel said a joint Algerian/Nigerian
feasibility study for the pipeline is underway. He expected
a call for tenders for the project to be announced soon.


8. (C) In addition to development, regional governments
needed to address criminal activity, specifically
hostage-taking and drug smuggling. Messahel underscored the
region's rising concern with hostage-taking and repeated
Algeria's desire to take up the issue of ransom payments at
the UN (refs A and B). He called the current UN framework on
ransom payments too ambiguous and said Algeria wanted to seek
a UN Security Council resolution to "criminalize" such
payments by amending either the UN convention on
hostage-taking or the convention on terrorist finance.
Messahel said drug trafficking also increasingly threatened
the region. Like hostage ransoms, drugs were a source of
finance and support for terrorists. Algeria increasingly saw
itself as a transit country for drugs smuggled to Europe.
Messahel complained that Morocco, the largest producer of
hashish in the region, was not doing enough to interdict drug

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traffickers. "It's no secret, and it has been made public in
many UN reports, that some Moroccan officials are complicit
in drug trafficking," he added. Morocco was determined,
however, to combat terrorism. Messahel said Algeria
coordinated with Morocco on these issues within the framework
of Five-Plus-Five regional consultations involving Europe.

ROLE FOR U.S.
--------------


9. (C) Messahel said the general trend of terrorism in the
region was worrying, both in the Sahel and in Somalia because
of the rise of piracy. Since 9/11 Algeria decided to put its
experience fighting terrorism at the disposal of other
governments in the region. Messahel noted Algeria's
contribution to AMISOM, citing the transporting of troops as
well as the equipment and financial assistance it has
provided the transitional government in Somalia. Messahel
said the international community faced the same threat and
needed to work together, whether in Somalia, Afghanistan or
elsewhere. In the Sahel, international partners could help
most by providing intelligence, sharing technology and
technical know-how, and training. He underscored the
importance of the U.S. role in furnishing intelligence and in
building support for Algeria's ransom initiative, which, he
added, was the key to cutting off a primary source of
terrorist finance. Criminal smuggling was the other source.
Huddleston replied that the U.S. recognized Algeria was
leading the sub-regional effort to combat terrorism and
underscored the U.S. desire to coordinate. She encouraged
Messahel to raise these points with General Ward of the
Africa Command during his upcoming visit to Algiers. As to
Algeria's efforts at the UN, Huddleston noted that it might
be difficult to get support for a resolution that
criminalizes ransom payments but said that, in general, the
U.S. welcomed an initiative that would address this critical
source of funding for groups like AQIM.


10. (C) Asked how we might coordinate our activities in the
region, Messahel replied that Algeria had no apprehension
about meeting with representatives from U.S. Africa Command.
President Bouteflika had authorized such meetings, and
Algerian officials were expecting General Ward's visit.
Messahel emphasized that Algeria's only red line vis-a-vis
international cooperation was sending Algerian troops to a
foreign country. However, Messahel said, this policy was
evolving. Algeria planned to contribute two battalions of
police and gendarmerie units to the AU Standby Force. He
added that Algeria also offered to host a logistics center
for the AU Standby Force in Jijel. Messahel complained that
the French were pressuring the AU to select a site in
Cameroon for the base and stressed that the AU force should
involve no "foreign elements."

VIEW ON AFRICA
--------------


11. (C) Messahel remarked that, with respect to assistance,
Algeria and the U.S. were on the same wavelength, noting,
"the coup d'etat is an eternal headache in Africa." Messahel
said the key debate in Africa was about democracy. Algeria,
he contended, was convinced that democracy was the right
solution for the continent, but sometimes the process drifted
off track, as had happened with Zimbabwe, Kenya, and Ghana.
Africa, he argued, needed to go at its own pace and "make its
own revolution at home." Africa's colonial legacy hindered
democracy's emergence on the continent, Messahel said, noting
that for generations leaders in Francophone Africa were
products of former colonial institutions, e.g., the French
military or the French national assembly. Only recently have
homegrown African elites emerged from national civil society
movements. The problem of political power in Africa was
critical. Africans had to take charge of their own national
decision making, and that is why President Obama's message in
Ghana was so well received. Messahel said Algeria had an
interest in better understanding the United States' approach
to Africa and planned to invite A/S Johnnie Carson to Algeria
in 2010 for that purpose. He noted that the Department of
State included Algeria in its Near Eastern Affairs Bureau.
Algeria, however, considered itself more a part of Africa
than a part of the Middle East. Messahel preferred that
foreign governments view Algeria first as part of the
Mediterranean region, second as part of the Maghreb and third

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as part of Africa. Africa, he said, cannot be divided
between Saharan and sub-Saharan. "There is only one Africa."


12. (U) Tripoli minimize considered.
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