Four Sahara desert countries are set to open a joint command headquarters in the south of Algeria to counter a growing al-Qaeda threat, the Algerian defence ministry says.
The command headquarters for Algeria, Mali, Mauritania and Niger will be based in Tamanrasset, about 2,000km south of Algiers, the Algerian capital, it said.
The announcement on Wednesday followed a meeting last month of senior officials from regional governments that the US hailed as a step towards confronting al-Qaeda.