Algeria, Britain sign co-operation deals

ALGERIA

Algeria, Britain sign co-operation deals

http://www.businessinafrica.net/news/north_africa/804766.htm, 09 Jun 2006

Algiers – Algeria and Britain signed four agreements, including an extradition treaty, on Thursday in Algiers during a visit by British deputy foreign minister Kim Howells, the Algerian press agency APS reported.

The four agreements, on extradition, the movement and readmission of persons and legal co-operation on penal as well as civil and trade issues, were signed on the sidelines of a joint ministerial commission between Britain and Algeria, APS said.

The two parties said the accords were « of major importance for future relations between the two countries in legal, penal and consular terms ».

In March, Algeria’s head of government Ahmed Ouyahia, who resigned in May, said talks with Britain on legal extraditions « were moving properly ahead, » adding that « the Khalifa affair fell within this framework ».

Algeria has been seeking for two years the extradition of the former head of the Khalifa group, Abdelmoumen Rafik Khalifa, charged in Algeria with fraud and money laundering, who fled to London.

Seventeen other Algerians are currently being held or are under conditional release in Britain under suspicions of terrorism, awaiting expulsion. Sapa-AFP