Army chiefs from the United States and nine west and north
African countries attended on Wednesday in Dakar a conference to
strengthen counter-terrorism fight in the Sahara region, according
to the Senegalese army.
The one-day conference took place under the presidency of
Trans-Saharan Counter-terrorism Partnership (TSCTP), a network made
up of the United States and nine countries from the Maghreb and
Sahel region, Senegal, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Niger, Nigeria,
Chad, Mali and Mauritania.
The conference is aimed at setting up counter-terrorism
mechanisms to prevent terror threat from taking root along the
Saharan countries border zones, said Colonel Antoine Wardini, head
of Senegalese army's public relations department.
The conference just came a day after the announcement by the US
Defense Secretary Robert Gates of the creation of a special
regional command for Africa to oversee American military operations
and relations with the continent.
(Xinhua News Agency February 8, 2007)
