Algérie Presse Service (APS) - Feb. 28, 2013
In an address delivered at a closed-door session devoted to a review of the crisis in Mali by delegates attending the 42nd summit meeting of ECOWAS, where he represented the president of the Republic, Minister Delegate for Maghreb and African Affairs Abdelkader Messahel recalled that a resolution of the crisis is founded on "restoring the territorial integrity of Mali, combating terrorism and organized crime, and a restoration of democratic legitimacy and national dialogue."

On the same occasion, Mr. Messahel expressed his satisfaction with "the awareness shared by all of the nature of this real threat and the adoption by ECOWAS during this summit meeting of a strategy to combat terrorism and organized crime."

Speaking about dialogue among Malians, Mr. Messahel said that it "must involve qualified actors and, at the end of the day, become an unavoidable element of a lasting resolution of the crisis."

He also discussed support by the international community, recalling that Algeria's solidarity with Mali "has always been expressed in difficult times, including of course the initial stage of the crisis." He indicated that Algeria "has contributed financial and humanitarian assistance to help achieve a more appeased transition and it has contributed to building human and material capacities of the country's armed and security forces."

Additional, he said, Algeria "devotes enormous resources to enforce the security of its borders with Mali and leads a determined fight against terrorism in the region, thereby contributing to weakening the capacities of this scourge, as demonstrated by the total neutralization of the terrorist group that attacked the gas plant at In Amenas."