African Defense Cooperation Against AQIM

The militaries in Africa are unifying their efforts against Al-Qaeda. At least on paper.

Army chiefs from seven African nations gathered Tuesday in Algiers to coordinate efforts against a regional al-Qaida offshoot and arms and drugs traffickers that roam across their porous common borders in the Sahara.

Their goal is to boost cross-border patrols and surveillance, so that al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, or AQIM, and other criminal groups can't increase their footprint over the no man's land stretching across the Sahara, the world's largest desert.

Army chiefs of staff are "discussing issues of defense and common security, to lift possible misunderstandings and establish a common strategy against migratory threats," said Gen. Ahmed Gaid Salah, the Algerian army chief of staff and meeting host, according to the state news agency APS.

Other nations attending included Libya, Chad, Niger, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Mauritania. All join borders in the Sahara and the sprawling semi-desert region to its south, known as the Sahel, an area the size of western Europe regularly plagued by insecurity and local rebellions.

The threat has increased since AQIM, formed in 2006, reached beyond its bases in northern Algeria to other African nations, where it has taken dozens of tourists hostage and has increasingly bonded with traffickers.

The army summit in Algiers follows a similar meeting last week by intelligence chiefs.

By: Brant