arietta

European interior ministers of the G6 and its U.S. counterpart on Thursday in Madrid felt it urgent to try to curb the spread of Al Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its weaponry through Libya, said Spanish Interior Minister.

"The Libyan crisis is having an influence on AQIM, in particular one that seems especially negative is the appearance of the Libyan army weapons, or what remains of it in the hands of terrorists," he said.

"If we do not activate more of our plans, AQIM can exploit this to grow, and if it grows AQIM crecerjá (...) grow organized crime and the risk to Europe and America," he warned, in a press conference with Secretary U.S. Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano.

So the G6 Interior Ministers will be asked to convene a joint meeting of the Sahel with its foreign counterparts and the U.S..

They also asked the African Union (AU) to establish a joint strategy to combat terrorism, he added.

The G6, which has existed since 2003, is an informal group of the six largest EU countries (Italy, Spain, United Kingdom, France, Germany and Poland).

"There are arms trafficking in the border between Libya and Mali, and therefore it has to worry because (...) can be at this time nurturing arms of a certain level of sophistication," he said.

"At this point, AQIM is concentrated in Mauritania, Niger, Mali" and "vocation is spread throughout the Sahel and even the rest of the Maghreb," said Rubalcaba, who recalled that the organization was established in Algeria.

"We can not rule it out of its natural environment, is a regional franchise that acts like Al Qaida, which overflows its geographical sphere of action," he warned.

It has bases in northern Mali, from which organized the attacks and kidnappings Sahel, especially Westerners.

AQIM has held since September to four French and one Italian.