North Africa ‘under threat’ from ISIL militants after their defeats
Extremists, arms dealers and people traffickers have since taken advantage of the unrest to gain a foothold
Algeria’s foreign minister, Abdelkader Messahel, said that North Africa is under threat from foreign fighters fleeing ISIL’s defeats in Iraq and Syria.
Mr Messahel spoke at a news conference in Cairo after meeting his Egyptian and Tunisian counterparts, Sameh Shoukry and Khemaies Jhinaoui, to discuss Libya.
ISIL took advantage of the chaos of Syria’s conflict, which broke out in 2011 with protests against president Bashar Al Assad.
After its rapid rise in 2014 and conquest of territory in Syria and Iraq, ISIL established what it called a caliphate that attracted thousands of foreign fighters.
A string of losses this year has left the extremists clinging on to pockets of territory in Iraq and Syria.
“The region is threatened … with the return of foreign fighters,” Mr Messahel said. “The signs and reports say the return will be in our region.”
The ministers also met in Tunisia in February and again in Algeria in June to discuss Libya, as the three countries push for a solution to the Libyan crisis.
The priority is “preserving Libya’s unity, stability and territorial integrity”, Egypt’s foreign ministry said.
Libya has fallen into chaos since the fall and murder in 2011 of longtime dictator Muammar Qaddafi, with rival administrations and militias vying for power.
Extremists, arms dealers and people traffickers have since taken advantage of the unrest to gain a foothold in the oil-rich North African country.
“What is happening in Libya threatens its security and stability and it has become a refuge for a number of terrorist groups,” Mr Jhinaoui said.