Courtesy: BBC News. Haruna. Allez-y!!
Saharan states to open joint military headquarters


Four Saharan desert states are to open a joint command  headquarters in
Algeria to co-ordinate efforts to counter the growing  regional threat from
al-Qaeda.
The Joint Military Staff Committee of Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and  Niger
will be based in Tamanrasset.
They want to increase co-operation and move towards joint operations
against terrorism, kidnappings and trafficking.
Militants have exploited a lack of co-ordination in the past, evading
capture by crossing from one state to another.
The US and other Western countries have warned that unless the  governments
of the region join forces, al-Qaeda could turn the Sahara  desert into a
safe haven and use it as a base for launching large-scale  attacks.

Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb last year killed a  British hostage

Last year an affiliate of the militant network, al-Qaeda in the Islamic
Maghreb, killed a British man, Edwin Dyer, who was kidnapped on the border
between Niger and Mali, and shot dead a US aid worker in Mauritania.
Members of the group are also believed to be holding hostage two  Spaniards
who disappeared in November in Mauritania. An Italian married  couple
seized in December were last week freed in Mali.
The countries did not say what powers the command centre would have,  but a
military source in Niger told the Reuters news agency they planned  to
"move towards joint military operations against terrorism, kidnappings  and the
trafficking of drugs and  weapons".


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