Regional African states in Niger discuss Sahel crisis

Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs, Abdelkader Mesahel Algiers – Hussien Bou Saleh Algeria's Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs, Abdelkader Mesahel, led the country's delegation during the ministerial meeting of core states to be held next Monday in Niamey (Niger), according to a statement by the Algerian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday.
The statement stated that the meeting will tackle the current situation in the region on the security level, especially the fight against militants and cross-border organised crime, following the meetings of the Joint Fusion and Liaison Unit (UFL) and the Joint Military Staff Committee
The same source said the meet would study the situation in Mali. The northern part of the country, an area bigger than France, fell to Islamist extremists and Tuareg rebels after a military coup ousted the country's former president earlier this year. Since, then it has become a hotbed for Islamic extremists, who went on a rampage destructing heritage sites they deemed were "un-Islamic".
Observers believed that Algeria is facing a major challenge by al-Qaeda-affiliated groups that control northern Mali and their intention to establish an Islamic Salafist state along the lines of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
The state would open Algeria to militant attacks, not only because it will be on its southern border directly, but because the Salafist groups which control northern Mali, namely the Movememnt of Oneness and Jihad in West Africa and Ansar al-Dine, have left Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), al-Qaeda's regional branch.
AQIM is composed mainly of the Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), which was founded by Hassan Hattab in 1998 in Algeria.
Algeria has stated it is against foreign military intervention in the ongoing conflict in northern Mali, since it worked on a principle that the Algerian army would not carry out any operations outside Algerian territory, except for participation in missions under international cover. Some observers believed that the destruction of holy shrines by Islamic extremists in northern Mali were no different from the demolition of thousands-of-years-old Bamiyan Buddha statues in Afghanistan by the Taliban in 2001, before they were ousted by NATO forces.
Some neighbouring countries have urged an African-led intervention in northern Mali, like the one that led to the overthrow of former President of Côte d'Ivoire, Laurent Gbagbo.
In the same context, Antonio Gutierres, head of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, warned of the conflict in northern Mali as exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in the African Sahel. Guiterres said it posed a serious threat to regional and global security.
The Voice of America radio station stated on Saturday that according to a report issued by the High Commissioner, the conflict in northern Mali has led to the displacement of more than 200,000 people and forced more than a quarter of a million refugees to flee to neighbouring countries.
Eighteen million people in West Africa already face a food crisis, including more than a million children who suffer from malnutrition.
Gutierres said in remarks quoted by VOA: "While the international community focuses on Syria, it ignores the deteriorating and serious situation in Mali...if humanitarian assistance is not provided, if a political solution is not found, the danger of this conflict - in my opinion – will be enormous and its implications shall be very serious for the whole region."
Over 250,000 citizens have fled Mali during the past six months on the backdrop of violence that broke out between government forces and Tuareg and many armed groups. There are 96,000 refugees in Mauritania and 53,000 in Niger. THe UN Agency for Refugees received about one-third of the $153 million needed to support the Malian refugees in Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Nigeria, while other agencies suffer from a severe lack of resources as well.