US official holds counter-terror talks in Algeria

ALGIERS, Nov 6 (Reuters) U S Under Secretary of Defense Peter Rodman met Algerian army officials today in efforts to deepen counter-terror and security links, the U S embassy said.

U S relations with Algeria, Africa's second largest country, have been warming after a long period of tension.

Algeria, a partner in Washington's global war on terror, has shared intelligence with the United States in recent years on its efforts to fight Algerian Islamist armed groups operating in the Sahara, the Sahel and Europe.

''Algeria and the United States are seeking to develop a relation in the military sector that will benefit the two countries and that will protect their citizens against the terrorist threat,'' a U S embassy statement said.

The Algerian army helped prevent the establishment of an Islamic republic in the North African oil and gas producing country when it cancelled legislative elections in 1992 that a radical Islamic party was set to win.

Up to 200,000 people were killed in subsequent violence, which has subsided sharply but lingers in some areas.

The army's main opponent is the rebel Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC), a radical Islamist group that has rejected an amnesty offered by President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

The GSPC, listed as a terrorist group by Washington, is seen by Algerian and Western officials as a threat to regional stability.

The U S military provides training to senior Algerian officers but Algerian newspaper commentators have said that the likelihood of major U S weapons sales to Algeria is slim because the country's main supplier remains Russia.

Reuters AKJ DB2140