Algeria, US hold security talks on Libya

Algeria and the US held talks on the security situation in Libya and the North African region as a whole in Algiers yesterday, the Anadolu Agency reported.

In a statement posted on its official website, the Algerian ministry of defence said the Minister of National Defence, General Ahmed Gaid Salah, received the commander of the US Africa Command, USAFRICOM, General David M. Rodriguez, at the ministry’s headquarters in the capital Algiers.

“The two sides held talks and addressed issues of common interest related to the security situation in the Sahel region and the neighbouring areas including Libya in order to improve coordination in the field of investigation and exchange of information and experiences,” the statement said.

AFRICOM, based in Stuttgart, Germany, is one of six combatant units responsible for US military operations and military relations with African countries.

The US army has recently deployed rapid intervention forces stationed in Seville, Spain, with the mission to secure the protection of the American embassies in North Africa and the Sahel region.

The AFRICOM commander is the second US army official to visit Algeria in 2015 preceded only by his assistant, Philip Carter, who visited the country in February.