By Sue Pleming
RABAT (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Ricepushed for closer north African counter-terrorism cooperationon Saturday on a tour of an oil-rich region hit by attacksblamed on al Qaeda.
Rice, who arrived in staunch U.S. ally Morocco late onSaturday after visiting Algeria and Tunisia and holding ahistoric meeting with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in Tripoli,told reporters in Algiers she had been saddened by attacks inAlgeria that killed scores of people.
"The cooperation here is good," she said after talks withAlgerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, adding the twocountries had affirmed their "strong ties" in the discussions.
"But there is always more that you can do to tightensharing of information, to make sure you have all the rightchannels to give technical support in terms of the terrorismthreat," she said, referring to north African states generally.
"It is not a secret that it is a problem that has reallybeen very salient in the Maghreb."
An estimated 125 people were killed in an upsurge ofpolitical violence in Algeria in August in attacks by alQaeda's north Africa wing and clashes between the army andmilitants.
The periodic violence worries many in the region becausethe country on the southern shores of the Mediterranean is amajor energy exporter to Europe and its 34 million people arestill searching for stability after years of political strife.
An Islamist revolt began in 1992 in Algeria after the thenmilitary-backed authorities, fearing an Iran-style revolution,scrapped an election an Islamist party was set to win. Morethan 150,000 people have been killed in the ensuing violence.
Rice said she also discussed security with President Zineal-Abidine Ben Ali on a visit to Tunisia earlier in the day.
Arriving in Rabat, she was greeted by Morocco's ForeignMinister Taieb Fassi Fihri and the two were due to meet onSunday for talks, state news agency MAP reported.
POLITICAL REFORM
Security concerns focus on oil- and gas-exporting Algeria,although pro-Western Morocco and Tunisia have also been hit byattacks by al Qaeda-aligned militants in recent years.
Rice said she had raised the question of Algerians held atthe Guantanamo detention camp with Bouteflika and added the twocountries had a good working relationship on the question.
"It is important to have both security assurances and humanrights protection and we feel we have done well with Algeria onboth," she said, reiterating the U.S. aim to close the centre.
Human Rights Watch this week urged Rice to press Algeria toensure the well-being and status of Guantanamo detaineesreturned to Algeria. The group says four have returned toAlgeria in the past two months while 21 remain in the camp.
Algerian officials have said any return of Algerians couldonly happen "without any condition or constraint".
U.S. officials say some governments will not take custodyof their citizens held at Guantanamo, others will not treattheir citizens humanely and still others are not willing toprovide security guarantees Washington believes are necessary.
Hundreds of Algerian Islamist fighters joined the Afghanopposition to Soviet occupation in the 1980s and becameinvolved with what is now al Qaeda in the 1990s.
Rice also said she had pushed for deeper political reformand free elections on her visit to Tunisia, long accused bycritics of rights abuses and stifling press freedom.
On Friday Rice made the first trip by a U.S. secretary ofstate to Libya in 55 years, a move intended to end decades ofenmity following the signing of a compensation package to coverlegal claims involving victims of U.S. and Libyan bombings.
(Writing by William Maclean; Editing by Alison Williams)
