Morocco World News
Morocco World News
Madrid, September 21, 2012
José Manuel García-Margallo, Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on Thursday stressed that security in the Tindouf camps, southern Algeria, “has deteriorated” in recent years because of the presence of several terrorist groups that are active in the Sahel and Sahara.
The head of Spanish diplomacy, who was speaking in front of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives (lower house), about the security situation in the Sahel region, noted that ” risks in the Tindouf camps are real and have grown worse in recent years.”
He stressed that this situation prompted the Spanish government last July to last to evacuate Spanish humanitarian workers from the Tindouf camps, because of the presence of credible information indicating that there was imminent threat of kidnapping members of non-governmental organizations working in the region.
In this regard, Margallo noted that foreign nationals working in the region, especially in the Tindouf camps, have become “target” for the kidnappings carried out by terrorist groups operating in the region, particularly al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb Movement for Unity and Jihad in West Africa, known as MUJAO.
He went on to emphasize in this regard that the protection of Spanish citizens, at home and abroad, is a priority for the government.
Regarding the issue of the Sahara, the Spanish minister renewed his country’s position calling for a “just political solution, acceptable to both parties” within the framework of the United Nations.
