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U.S. Tries to Coordinate Anti-Militant Push in Mali U.S. and Algeria Discuss Ousting Mali Militants
(about 9 hours later)
ALGIERS — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton arrived in Algeria on Monday as the United States sought to coordinate support for an emerging international effort to push Islamic militants out of northern Mali. ALGIERS — Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton sought Algeria’s backing on Monday for an emerging international effort to push Islamic militants out of northern Mali, in a meeting here with the president of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.
 “One of the things that the secretary wants to talk about is how we would see this working,” a senior State Department official said before a scheduled meeting between Mrs. Clinton and the Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. In several hours of discussions, the two sides focused on the deteriorating situation in northern Mali, which has become a sanctuary for terrorists, including militants from Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, since the national army lost control of the region after a coup in March.
An array of Islamist militant groups have seized control of northern Mali, including Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.  Northern Mali has emerged as a haven for terrorists. After the meetings, American officials asserted that the Algerians’ and Americans’ political and military approaches to the crisis had begun to converge, but that more work was needed. “We have agreed to continue with in-depth expert discussions,” Mrs. Clinton said, “to determine the most effective approaches that we should be taking.”
Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution underscoring its “readiness” to send an international force to evict the militants in response to a request from the Mali government. The Islamist takeover of northern Mali is a growing worry for the United States and for France, the former colonial power, which maintains an interest in West Africa and has been pressing for international action.
While a military plan has yet to be drafted, the basic idea is for forces from Nigeria and other West Africa countries to help Mali’s military mount a campaign against the militants. France, the United States and other countries would help with training, intelligence and logistics. Earlier this month, the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution underscoring its “readiness” to send an international force to evict the militants in response to a request from a Mali government. While a military plan has yet to be drafted, the basic idea has been for forces from Nigeria and other African countries to help Mali’s military mount a campaign against the militants. France, the United States and other countries would help with training, intelligence and logistics.
American and French officials have  met in Paris to discuss how to cope with the security situation in Mali, and Mrs. Clinton’s trip to Algeria follows a similar visit by France’s foreign minister. The support of Algeria, a regional power and neighbor of Mali, would be essential, diplomats say. Algeria, which waged a brutal war against militants in its own country, has one of the strongest militaries in the region and an active intelligence service. Algeria, Niger, Mali and Mauritania have set up an intelligence center in the southern Algerian city of Tamanrasset to coordinate efforts against Al Qaeda and other regional threats.
American officials indicated that they were not asking Algeria to send troops to Mali but wanted to discuss the role it might play while West Africans and Mali’s military provide the “boots on the ground.” Algeria is a regional power and Mali’s neighbor to the north, and its political support for such a campaign is essential, diplomats say. “There is a strong recognition that Algeria has to be a central part of the solution,” an American official said.
Algeria, which waged a brutal war against militants in its own country, also has one of the strongest militaries in the region, as well as an active intelligence service. It includes an intelligence center in the southern city of Tamanrasset that Algeria, Niger, Mali and Mauritania have set up to coordinate efforts against Al Qaeda and other regional threats. Algeria, however, has not always been supportive of an international effort in Mali, particularly since the prospect of a military campaign in Mali risked pushing militants north into Algerian territory and, in the Algerians’ estimation, radicalizing the Tuaregs, a nomadic group who live in the desert area straddling the borders of Algeria, Mali and Niger.
“There is a strong recognition that Algeria has to be a central part of the solution,” said a second American official, who added that the situation in northern Mali would be a “central focus” of Mrs. Clinton’s talks. But as security in Mali continued to deteriorate, the Algerians have eased their objections. “There is a Malian institutional crisis,” the Algerian foreign minister, Mourad Medelci, said on Oct. 19 in an interview during an international meeting in Bamako, the capital of Mali.
Algeria has not always been supportive of an international effort in Mali, particularly since the prospect of a military campaign in Mali risked pushing the militants north into Algerian territory. But as security in Mali continued to deteriorate, the Algerians dropped their objections. “The Algerians are ready to help,” he said.
“There is a Malian institutional crisis,” the Algerian foreign minister, Mourad Medelci, said in an Oct. 19 interview at an international meeting on Mali in Bamako. “The Algerians are ready to help.” Mrs. Clinton’s visit to Algeria, her second to the country as secretary of state, followed a series of high-level meetings in Washington last week between American and Algerian officials. France’s foreign minister visited Algeria earlier this month.
The worsening situation in Mali is the result of a number of factors. As Algeria pressed its fight against militants on its own territory, many of the Qaeda-affiliated fighters headed to the lightly policed region in northern Mali. In the meeting with Secretary Clinton, President Bouteflika emphasized the political side of the problem, noting steps that Algeria had taken to facilitate a dialogue between moderate Tuaregs and the Malian authorities. American officials acknowledged the value of reaching out to moderate Tuaregs, but said the United States does not want to defer the planning for a military campaign while those contacts are pursued.
Meanwhile, the fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi of Libya prompted ethnic Tuareg rebels from Mali, who had been fighting alongside Colonel Qaddafi’s forces, to return to northern Mali with weapons they had taken from Libya’s arsenals. Together with their Islamist allies, they easily chased out the Malian Army, weakened by a coup d’état in the capital, from the country’s north in late March and early April. The Islamists then chased out the Tuaregs and seized control in May and June. “It’s very clear that a political process and our counterterrorism efforts in Mali need to work in parallel and be mutually reinforcing,” a senior State Department official said.
 After Algeria, Mrs. Clinton will visit Bosnia, Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia and Albania. The Islamist gains in Mali stem from a number of factors. The fall of Col. Muammar el-Qaddafi in Libya prompted ethnic Tuareg rebels from Mali, who had been fighting alongside Colonel Qaddafi’s forces, to return to northern Mali with weapons from Libyan arsenals. They joined with Qaeda-affiliated Islamist militants who had moved to the lightly policed region from Algeria, and the two groups easily drove out the weakened Malian army in late March and early April. Then the Islamists turned on the Tuaregs, chasing them off and consolidating control in the region in May and June.
After her stop in Algeria, Mrs. Clinton traveled to Bosnia. She is also scheduled to visit Serbia, Kosovo, Croatia and Albania.

Adam Nossiter contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.

Adam Nossiter contributed reporting from Dakar, Senegal.