The countries of the Sahel region “are fully capable” of responding to the terrorist threat in their area, said Presidential Advisor Kamel Rezzag-Bara on November 30 in London, in a statement to Algerian Channel 3 radio (Chaîne III).

Mr. Rezzag-Bara was heading the official Algerian delegation to the meeting of the Algerian-British bilateral counterterrorism cooperation contact group.

He stressed that the Sahel countries “are fully capable of developing appropriate responses” to the terrorist threat in their area. In that respect, he reiterated Algeria’s position of rejection of any foreign interference in the region and stated that “we believe that the countries of the (Sahel) region are primarily concerned with the coordination of the fight against the terrorist threat and we absolutely reject any attempted interference, which could transform a local threat into a threat of another nature.”

The previous two summit meetings convened in Cairo, Egypt in 2000 and Lisbon, Portugal in 2007.