Moamer Qadaffy.... Custodian of Wheelus AFB for long 42 years ...
"No Algerian aircraft has ever entered the Libyan airports except for those that were sent by the authorities to extract the Algerian residents in Tripoli and Benghazi," Algerian Interior Minister Daho Ould Kabila said in a February 28th statement.
Ould Kabila blasted reports that Algerian jets were used to transport mercenaries to Libya, saying they were "a plot against Algeria". He added, "Those who claim to have evidence that proves the involvement of Algeria and intend to spread these false allegations, all they have to do is show this evidence."
"I think that the rebuttals of the Algerian authorities have reached the Libyan people, who announced once again their respect for the Algerian authorities and people for their choice and will for change, and I do not think that there is anyone who stands with the authorities against the will of people," the minister said.
Air Algerie also denied using its aircraft to transport African mercenaries to help Colonel Qadaffy. In a press statement to Echourouk, the director of human resources at the company, Othmane Adjrid, firmly disavowed the allegations, saying there was no truth in them whatsoever.
Adjrid said the incorrect satellite television information came from the return of old aircraft that Air Algerie had previously leased from Libya in 1986. He said the planes were returned because they were broken and no longer airworthy.
Algerians flee Libya chaos
Meanwhile,
...back at the ranch...
the unrest in Libya has triggered a wave of repatriation of foreign nationals. At least 3,780 Algerians have returned home since February 20th; the vast majority aboard Air Algerie flights. The remainder entered southern Algeria at the Debdeb border crossing, 450km north-east of Illizi.
Assistance was provided to 1,400 people at the border crossing by elements from the Algerian army, gendarmerie, Civil Protection Force, Algerian Red Islamic Thingy and the medical service of Sonatrach.