Gaddafi envoy holds talks in Morocco Morocco hosted a visit by a Libyan deputy foreign minister on Monday, a rare diplomatic link between Muammar Gaddafi's government and one of the staunch allies of the Western coaltion determined to overthrow him. Morocco has been one of the small number of Arab countries and the only North African state openly involved in talks with Western powers over the Libyan crisis. State-run 2M television said Foreign Minister Taieb Fassi Fihri met Omran Boukraa, the Libyan deputy foreign minister in charge of Arab relations, in Rabat on Monday. “(Fihri) … reiterated Morocco's commitment to full respect for Libya's territorial integrity and national unity … It is within that spirit that Morocco took part in international meetings in Paris, London and recently in Doha,” 2M quoted the foreign ministry as saying in a statement. Foreign ministers of Western powers and Arab states called at a meeting in Doha last week for Gaddafi to leave power. Britain, France and the United States say they will not end their air campaign in Libya until Gaddafi leaves power. Algeria: ‘At least 20′ killed in Al-Qaeda attacks The North African branch of Al-Qaeda has killed at least 20 people in the last few days, according to London-based Al-Arab online. Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was responsible for three attacks in Algeria between last Friday and early Sunday, according to the report. The attacks were concentrated in the eastern part of the country. Five soldiers were among the victims. Suspected Islamist insurgents on 15 April killed 13 Algerian soldiers in the country's northern Kabylie region, the deadliest attack in months, a security source was cited as telling Reuters. The AQIM terror group claimed a twin suicide bombing against United Nations offices and a court building in Algiers that killed at least 41 people on 11 December, 2007. Thousands of Libyans seek refuge in southern Tunisia A growing number of Libyan refugees, mostly women and children, are seeking refuge near the border point of Dhiba and Remada in southern Tunisia, reported the official press agency TAP on Monday. More than 3,000 refugees have crossed the Dhiba border point during the last two days fleeing violent clashes between rebels and government troops in Jebel El Gharbi in western Libya, said TAP. A Libyan national died in the Tunisian town of Tataouine after being injured during clashes in Libya, and was buried Sunday at a local cemetery. Among the some 11,000 Libyans who crossed through Dhiba during the last week, 1,500 were put up in an Emirati-sponsored camp near the city, 800 were staying in the town of Remada, and the rest were hosted by Tunisian families in Tataouine. Sudan rules out peace agreement with JEM in April Sudanese government today criticized the suspension of peace talks by the rebel Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) which asks Khartoum to renounce a referendum on Darfur administrative status. The rebel group on Sunday declined to attend a meeting with Sudanese government delegation on wealth sharing and asked the mediation to discuss Darfur administrative make-up first in order to reaffirm Khartoum's commitment to reach a negotiated agreement over the issue in Doha instead of the announced referendum. The spokesperson of the Sudanese government delegation in the peace talks criticized, in statements made on Monday, the position of the rebel group saying they are far from what is agreed with the other rebel Liberation and Equality Movement (LJM). Omer Adam Rahma, who was speaking in Khartoum, ruled out the possibility of reaching a deal with JEM before the end of April, stressing that the mediators plan to announce their final peace document at the end of the month. BM
