Libya: Algiers hopes there will be no intervention

11 March, 2011

PARIS-Algerian Minister of Foreign Affairs Mourad Medelci said Friday that Algeria was "against foreign intervention" in Libya, which would feed terrorism, but that a "mediation" between the regime of Colonel Gaddafi and the armed opposition would be better.

"We are concerned because there is an armed opposition between a portion of the population and another, and because the use of weapons has become uncontrollable," the minister said in an interview with French daily Le Monde.

"We are against foreign intervention, but we are not alone and I can understand that the messages of the international community are becoming firmer. If the situation continues, we know very well that sooner or later, the Security Council (UN) would take decisions. Let them assess the situation, but hopefully there will be no intervention," said Mourad Medelci.

"We have two camps, as in Côte d'Ivoire. The climate may be favorable to try to mediate. I do not know if it is possible but it is desirable. You know the results of previous foreign interventions, don’t you? We can not feed terrorism," he said.

The Algerian minister also believed that the situation in his country was very different from that in Tunisia or Egypt, where popular uprisings overthrew authoritarian regimes in recent weeks.

"Algeria is a plural country; no party is able to pass a law alone. It's still a big difference. Then, Algeria has already made its mutation in 1988 but this revolution has been masked by the fact that we experienced ten years of national tragedy," he said.

Asked about the announcement by the King of Morocco for constitutional reform, Mourad Medelci was cautious. "The Speech of His Majesty Mohammed VI, seemed to provide extremely important elements in the Moroccan political field," he said.

Source: Ennahar.
Link: http://www.ennaharonline.com/en/news/5992.html.