ALGIERS, Jan. 22 (Xinhua) -- Algeria will never send troops to neighboring countries such as Libya and Mali to help fight terrorism, Foreign Minister Abdelkader Messahel said Monday.
"Algeria will never get involved in military conflicts beyond its border, and everyone knows this," Messahel told the Algerian Channel III radio.
"Yet, helping the Sahel countries of Libya and Mali in the fight against terrorism is still a priority for us, as long as we are the first concerned," he added.
The minister said there are a number of ways to support "our brothers in the Sahel in terms of the fight against terrorism," citing that Algeria has been doing a lot in capacity building in Mali and Niger.
Messahel specified that Algeria has spent 100 million U.S. dollars in the last decade in providing significant logistical and humanitarian assistance for the counter-terrorism operations in Saharan countries, including training special operations troops in Niger, Mali and other countries in the region.
The top diplomat said the key to ending the crisis in Mali and Libya "lies in the hands of Libyans and Malians themselves."
Algeria has been making diplomatic efforts to promote peace dialogue in Libya and Mali, two neighboring nations hit by war and chaos.
The North African nation insists that foreign military interference in these countries would only lead to more chaos rather than resolving the crisis.
