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“Sarkozi’s
visit to Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria was meant to provide
protection for France,” Stora
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By
Hadi Yahmid, IOL Paris Correspondent
PARIS,
May 24 (IslamOnline.net) - French Interior Minister Nikolai Sarkozi made
a tour of the Arab Maghreb countries in an effort to set up a
“protective shield” on France’s southern borders after the bombing
attacks against Morocco that left two French dead, said renowned
historian and distinguished scholar Benjamin Stora Saturday, May 24.
“Sarkozi’s
visit to Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria was meant to provide protection
for France, as its three neighboring countries - and former colonies -
have seen disproportionately growing hard-line Islamic trends,”
Binyamin Stora, an expert of the Maghribi affairs, told IslamOnline.net
Stora,
a professor of Maghribi History at the National Institute of Oriental
Civilizations and Languages in Paris (INALCO), made it clear France
deals with the three countries in “a cautious way,” amid fears of a
spillover of violence across borders.
He
said Algeria still faces armed groups holding up to mountainous areas,
Tunisia still feels the pinch of the attack on a synagogue last April
and Tunisia was rocked by a devastating five simultaneous bombings that
left indelible political, economic and security scars there.
A
series of attacks
rocked Morocco's economic capital of Casablanca on Friday, May 16,
killing at least 39 people and injuring dozens more at sites frequented
by foreigners, including the Belgian consulate, a Jewish center and
cemetery, an international hotel and a bustling Spanish restaurant.
France
denounced the "ignoble" Casablanca carnage, and sent a team of
experts Casablanca to join investigations and help identify the
perpetrators.
In
a letter to Morocco's King Mohammed VI, French President Jacques Chirac
sent "the most deep and sincere condolences and the sympathy of all
French."
In
his tour, Sarkozi discussed means to clamp down on terrorist networks
and build a “protective wall” preventing France from any aggressions
by its enemies, Stora said.
“It
is a step down the road of security cooperation to curtail the
threatening dangers of terrorism, as al-Qaeda did not vanish and
international terrorism is still as vigorous as active,” Sarkozi said
before the tour.
Al-Qaeda
is blamed for the Casablanca car-bombing attacks and similar attacks
against western housing compounds in the Saudi capital Riyadh on Monday,
May 12. Moroccan Interior Minister Mostafa Sahel said the attacks bear
the hallmarks of international terrorism.”
In
February al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden
cited Morocco among a list of "apostate" Arab nations in a
cassette message distributed to the media.
Western
countries, alarmed by a huge increase in intercepted communications
indicating that al-Qaeda-related attacks may be imminent, have put their
citizens on alert in the Middle East, East Africa and Southeast Asia.
