Al-Qaeda pilots Boko Haram – anti-terrorism experts

ALGIERS (AFP) – Anti-terrorism experts met at an international security conference Thursday to discuss the financing of armed militant groups and to focus on north Africa’s Sahel desert region, officials said.
Some 150 experts from about 30 countries were participating in the forum, which was being co-sponsored by Turkey and the United States. The closed meetings were being chaired by Algeria and Canada.
A European diplomatic official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the forum had been constructive and countries from the Sahel region were able to express themselves without the constraints sometimes seen in international conferences.
The Sahel is an eight-million-square-kilometre (3.1-million-square-mile) area on the edge of the Sahara desert.
Countries from the area raised concerns over controlling their large borders as they struggle against the influence of Al-Qaeda’s North African branch and the need for better information sharing between neighbouring nations.