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Rice holds terror talks in Rabat | |
(about 23 hours later) | |
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said she discussed terrorism and political reform in North Africa during talks with officials in Morocco. | |
She also said Morocco's long-running struggle with the Polisario Front insurgents in Western Sahara should be resolved quickly. | |
The Polisario Front wants independence while Morocco has proposed autonomy. | |
The Moroccan capital Rabat was her final stop in a North Africa tour that included a historic visit to Libya. | |
Ms Rice also stopped in Tunisia and Algeria. | |
"It is quite clear that there are problems of terrorism and need for counter-terrorism co-operation," between North African states and with the US, she said at a news conference after meeting Moroccan Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi-Fihri. | |
She also said they had discussed "the process of reform" in Morocco and the other countries she had visited. | |
Strained relations | |
Morocco says it has broken up more than 30 cells sending fighters to Iraq in the last five years, and the US and North African governments believe there is a growing threat from religious extremists in the region. | Morocco says it has broken up more than 30 cells sending fighters to Iraq in the last five years, and the US and North African governments believe there is a growing threat from religious extremists in the region. |
In neighbouring Algeria, about 60 people were killed in several attacks which took place within days of each other in August. | |
Morocco sees the disputed Western Sahara as its southern provinces while others see it as an independent state under Moroccan occupation. | |
The impasse has strained relations between Morocco and Algeria, which supports the Polisario Front. | |
Ms Rice said the US supports the UN effort to mediate a solution. | |
In Tripoli, Ms Rice said US-Libya relations were at a new phase | |
Resolving the conflict would allow Algeria and Morocco to improve co-operation on security and counter-terrorism, she said. | |
Morocco is a relatively liberal Muslim kingdom with a long history of good relations with the US. | |
The US sees the country as a stable friend in a difficult region, and a partner in the fight against Islamic extremism, says the BBC's James Copnall in Rabat. | |
Ms Rice started her tour of North Africa with a visit to Libya, the first by an American secretary of state for more than 50 years. | |
While in Libya, she said the two countries were working on a trade and investment framework to allow US companies to invest more, especially in Libya's oil industry. | |
Libya was on the US state department list of sponsors of terrorism until 2003, when it abandoned weapons of mass destruction and renounced terrorism. | |
Earlier this month, Libya agreed to pay compensation to families of the victims of the Lockerbie aircraft bombing, for which it formally accepted responsibility in the same year. |
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