Algeria Finally Grows A Brain and Seeks Assistance In Fight Against Al Qaeda

For months and months I have blogged about al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (North Africa) and the whooping they were putting on Algeria. I had gone so far as to suggest that Algeria seek help from the U.S. in terror training or even enlist the services of a Blackwater type organization. Well, apparently the Algerians and others in the region were listening as they have signed some agreements to team up against the al Qaeda blight. From the story at Jane's, here's some excerpts:

Military chiefs from Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger convened a closed-door meeting on 13 and 14 August to discuss the regional security situation and share strategies in the ongoing campaigns against armed Islamic insurgents in the Saharan region, Algerian security sources have told Jane's .
The meeting followed an agreement made public by Algeria and Mali, as well as Libya, to pool intelligence resources and join forces against the network of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) cells that have carried out suicide attacks, ambushes and kidnappings across the region - particularly targeting security forces.

The reason I have focused on this is the fact that al Qaeda has made North Africa one of its main targets and they have spread westward and if al Qaeda could control North Africa....well, we've seen what the islamists in Somalia have been able to accomplish in terror, piracy and barbarism.

Saharan neighbours join forces against Al-Qaeda in Islamic Maghreb

Military chiefs from Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger convened a closed-door meeting on 13 and 14 August to discuss the regional security situation and share strategies in the ongoing campaigns against armed Islamic insurgents in the Saharan region, Algerian security sources have told Jane's .
The meeting followed an agreement made public by Algeria and Mali, as well as Libya, to pool intelligence resources and join forces against the network of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) cells that have carried out suicide attacks, ambushes and kidnappings across the region - particularly targeting security forces.
It also preceded an anticipated regional security conference that is expected to draw representatives from Chad and Burkina Faso. No date has yet been announced for this conference, first floated during the African Union summit in Libya in May.
The security officials told Jane's that the aim of the meeting was to broaden the regional co-operation in the fight against AQIM. Algeria has spearheaded regional efforts to co-ordinate operations and has delivered several loads of equipment and weapons to Mali for that country's own campaign in the Sahara, begun in June. Niger and Mauritania were also due to receive similar arms shipments, according to reports in the Algerian media.