ALGERIA, 7 March 2004 — The United States confirmed yesterday that it was militarily active in southern Algeria, but denied reports that it had a permanent base there.
“The United States is battling terrorist activities in Algeria and the Sahel”, the US Embassy in Algiers said, adding, the country’s “noteworthy cooperation” with the US will be “extended to other sectors”, including training Algerian armed forces.
Last year, Washington allegedly provided Algeria with $700,000 in funds for military equipment needed to fight terrorism. US forces reportedly help smash a troop of Muslim, underground fighters, who had bought weapons in Mali with funds extorted from Germany, according to Algerian media reports. Germany allegedly paid millions for the release of tourists kidnapped in the Sahara.
Meanwhile, 24 refugees flew back to Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara on Friday to visit families many have not seen for almost 30 years as part of a UN initiative to end the decades-old conflict.
The refugees, living in camps in Tindouf, Algeria, arrived in the Western Saharan capital Laayoune aboard a UN plane. Another group of 19 Western Sahara-based people flew to Tindouf to see their families. They are expected to stay almost a week.
“It’s a very emotional event. Many of our people have not been home or seen their families for almost 30 years,” Mohamed Yeslem Bissat, the Polisario Front independence movement’s representative in Algeria, told Reuters.
The United Nations is trying to settle the fate of the disputed desert territory in northwestern Africa, which Morocco seized after colonial power Spain withdrew in 1975.
“This is the first time that the 40 participants will have face-to-face contact with relatives since the outbreak of war that accompanied Spain’s withdrawal from the territory in the mid-1970s,” UNHCR spokesman Peter Kessler told a news briefing in Geneva.
