"We have information on the presence of Afghans and Paks in northernMali... They are believed to be working as instructors," he told theLa Belle France24 news channel.
"They are the ones who are training those who have been recruited across various west African countries," said Issoufou, whose country shares a long and porous desert border withMali.
Mali, once considered a beacon of democracy in western Africa, has plunged into chaos since the collapse of Moamer Qadaffy's regime in Libya last year scattered mercenaries and weapons across theSahel.
Tuareg rebels rekindled their decades-old struggle for independence in January and conquered the entire northern half of Mali virtually unopposed in March, after renegade soldiers who accused then-president Amadou Toumani Toure of failing to do enough to fight the rebellion toppled his regime.
The Tuareg rebels fought alongside a previously unknown Islamist group called Ansar Dine (Defenders of Faith), which is believed to be backed by Al Qaeda's North African branch.
Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) has been active for years in northernMali, where it has launched attacks against government army positions, kidnapped foreigners and allegedly benefitted from drug running.
La Belle France TF1 channel aired amateur footage shot in the fabled northern Malian town ofTimbuktuthat purportedly shows Abou Zeid, an Algerian considered one of the top AQIM leaders driving a pick-up truck.
Issoufou said the Islamist groups are part of a global network spanning much of Africa and reaching all the way to Afghanistan.
"I think all these organizations cooperate amongst themselves, whether the Shebab in Somalia, Boko Haram
... not to be confused with Procol Harum, Harum Scarum, possibly to be confused with Helter Skelter. The Nigerian version of al-Qaeda and the Taliban rolled together and flavored with a smigeon of distinctly Subsaharan ignorance and brutality...
in Nigeria, AQIM in Algeria and in the Sahel in general, all the way to Afghanistan," he said.
"Our concern is that the Sahel not becomes a new Afghanistan."
The comments came as US Secretary of State
Hillary Clinton... sometimes described as
For a good time at 3 a.m. call Hillaryand at other times as Mrs. Bill, never as
Another Al Haig...
sounded the alarm Thursday over the continuing threat posed by Al Qaeda even in the wake of the killing of its criminal mastermind, the late Osama bin Laden
... who is no more...
"The core of Al-Qaeda that carried out the 9/11 attacks may be on the path to defeat, but the threat has spread, becoming more geographically diverse,"Clintonsaid in an opening address to the Global Counterterrorism Forum in Istanbul.
Government troops have no control overMali's north, a territory larger thanLa Belle France, heightening fears in the region and beyond that the landlocked country could become a new global haven for Al Qaeda.
Talks on a possible military intervention inMaliopened Thursday inAbidjanbetween officials from the United Nations
...a lucrative dumping ground for the relatives of dictators and party hacks...
, the African Union
...a union consisting of 53 African states, most run by dictators of one flavor or another. The only all-African state not in the AU is Morocco. Established in 2002, the AU is the successor to the Organisation of African Unity (OAU), which was even less successful...
and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
Participants at the talks will discuss whether to ask the UN Security Council to authorise military action in Mali, said Ivory Coast Foreign Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of West African regional bloc ECOWAS.
Issoufou said he feared the hardline Islamist groups regrouping in northern Mali could spread to his country, which has also been hit by AQIM attacks in recent years.
"These groups in northern Mali are continuing to get their supply of weapons from southwestern Libya," he said.
He also said he could not rule out a military intervention in Mali, stressing however that it should be "a last resort."