Al-Qaeda is not a serious threat to North Africa, and the terror network's affiliate in Algeria will be "totally eradicated", said the country's No 2 security official. Junior interior minister Dahou ould Kablia, speaking at a meeting of Arab interior ministers in Tunis, brushed off word of a new alliance between al-Qaeda and Algeria's Salafist Group for Call and Combat. "We're not giving this any more importance than it deserves," said the minister on Tuesday. "Al-Qaeda or no al-Qaeda, the movement will be totally eradicated," he said. Ould Kablia is the top Algerian security official under President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who also holds the title of interior minister. Asked if he thought al-Qaeda was a threat in North Africa, the minister added: "No, I don't think so."
The Salafist group, known by its French abbreviation GSPC, announced last week it was officially al-Qaeda's North African wing - now called al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. The GSPC, estimated at several hundred members, is considered the last major insurgent threat in Algeria, which has been trying to emerge from an Islamic insurgency that started 15 years ago. More than 150,000 people have died: Islamists, civilians and military.
Algerian neighbours Tunisia and Morocco have both had a string of arrests of suspected Islamic militants with alleged ties to the GSPC in recent months. In early January, normally tranquil Tunisia was rattled by a shoot-out between police and Islamic militants who police say had GSPC links. At the Tunis meeting, North African delegates called for greater co-operation among their intelligence services on eliminating militant groups.