RABAT, Morocco (Islamweb & News Agencies) - French President Jacques Chirac praised the commitment of north African leaders to fight terrorism Sunday, and promised a crackdown against terrorist havens in Europe.
Chirac's one-day stop in Morocco came at the end of a weekend visit to North Africa, a hotbed of religious extremism, to solidify the support of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in battling terrorism.
After a two-hour meeting with King Mohammed VI, Chirac said the region's leaders had expressed a commitment to eradicate international terrorism, particularly that of al-Qaida, the network run by Osama bin Laden, the leading U.S. suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Chirac told reporters that the North African leaders agreed that governments must use all their financial, legal and intelligence tools to fight terrorism.
Chirac and the Moroccan monarch also called for a new round of Middle East peace talks in the wake of Resistance bombing in Israel over the weekend, the Royal Palace said in a statement.
While North Africa has been a top breeding ground for extremist religious groups - some Algerians trained with bin Laden in Afghanistan - Chirac said European Union countries must root out terrorist ``sanctuaries'' in their region.
``The European Union has become aware of the monstrous character of the shelter offered to some terrorists of this nature who are criminals purely and simply, and sometimes, mentally ill,'' he said.
But ``the sanctuaries will become more and more rare, and more and more precarious,'' he said, citing tough new legal rules adopted by E.U. nations.
On Saturday, Chirac visited a flood-ravaged neighborhood in the Algerian capital Algiers, in the first trip by a French president to the former colony in 12 years.
RABAT, Morocco (Islamweb & News Agencies) - French President Jacques Chirac praised the commitment of north African leaders to fight terrorism Sunday, and promised a crackdown against terrorist havens in Europe.
Chirac's one-day stop in Morocco came at the end of a weekend visit to North Africa, a hotbed of religious extremism, to solidify the support of Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in battling terrorism.
After a two-hour meeting with King Mohammed VI, Chirac said the region's leaders had expressed a commitment to eradicate international terrorism, particularly that of al-Qaida, the network run by Osama bin Laden, the leading U.S. suspect in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Chirac told reporters that the North African leaders agreed that governments must use all their financial, legal and intelligence tools to fight terrorism.
Chirac and the Moroccan monarch also called for a new round of Middle East peace talks in the wake of Resistance bombing in Israel over the weekend, the Royal Palace said in a statement.
While North Africa has been a top breeding ground for extremist religious groups - some Algerians trained with bin Laden in Afghanistan - Chirac said European Union countries must root out terrorist ``sanctuaries'' in their region.
``The European Union has become aware of the monstrous character of the shelter offered to some terrorists of this nature who are criminals purely and simply, and sometimes, mentally ill,'' he said.
But ``the sanctuaries will become more and more rare, and more and more precarious,'' he said, citing tough new legal rules adopted by E.U. nations.
On Saturday, Chirac visited a flood-ravaged neighborhood in the Algerian capital Algiers, in the first trip by a French president to the former colony in 12 years.