Sahel leaders set for security summit

By Agence France Presse (AFP)

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

BAMAKO: Leaders of the states in Africa's northern Sahel desert zone are set to meet in Bamako Thursday for a special security summit, a source in the Malian Foreign Ministry told AFP. Nearly all of the leaders of the six nations that make up the Sahal zone - Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Algeria, Libya and Chad - are expected in the Malian capital for a summit expected to last for "several hours," the source said. The Sahel region, with vast stretches of inhospitable desert, is notoriously difficult to control with several armed groups and rebels roaming freely between the countries.