ALGIERS (AFP) – U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on Tuesday congratulated Algeria's President Abdelaziz Bouteflika on the "incredible role" he had played in peace negotations between Ethiopia and Eritrea.
On her first visit to Algiers in her current job, Albright said Bouteflika's contribution to a comprehensive peace pact to be signed here later Tuesday was an example of good cooperation between Algeria and Washington and that such ties should be strengthened.
"I congratulated him for the incredible role that he played," Albright said after a meeting with the Algerian leader, who was due to host the signing of the peace accord by Ethiopian Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Eritrean President Issaias Afeworki.
Joint efforts to end a two-year war that claimed tens of thousands of lives in the Horn of Africa were "an example of how we can work together," Albright said.
"We also are hoping to generally work on improving our relations with President Bouteflika's government and working together as best we can on a variety of problems, not only in Africa, but looking at some of the issues in the Middle East."
Albright arrived here from a visit to Botswana and was due to attend the signing ceremony with other top international officials before she leaves for the Hungarian capital Budapest.
Bouteflika was chairman of the Organization of African Unity (OAU) when Eritrea and Ethiopia signed an initial ceasefire to bring their conflict over disputed border territory to an end in June.
A major oil producer, Algeria has since 1992 been wracked by insurgency by armed Islamists, but Bouteflika offered a partial amnesty for six months from July last year which saw hundreds of them lay down their arms.
The Algerian security forces have declared a merciless war on those who are still waging guerrilla campaigns that have claimed at least 100,000 lives; while Bouteflika has put an isolated country firmly back on the international map since he was elected in May 1999.
Also present for the signing of the Horn peace accord are Anthony Lake, the U.S. special envoy who helped mediate it, U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan, who recently visited the region where U.N. peacekeeping troops have begun to deploy, and current OAU chairman, President Gnassingbe Eyadema of Togo.
