ALGIERS, May 14 (KUNA) -- The Algerian government on Saturday warned that opening foreign diplomatic missions in Benghazi city, east Libya, could lead to dividing the country.
Speaking to reporters here, Abdulaziz Belkhadem, the personal representative of the President of the Republic Abdulaziz Bouteflika said: "The existence of such missions could deepen the division of the country into two, which we oppose categorically." Belkhadem, who doubles as minister of state and secretary-general of the ruling National Liberation Front (FLN), made the comments on the sidelines of a symposium on the ongoing geopolitical changes and their impacts on the Arab world.
"Algeria warned in the past against militarizing the Libyan people under the slogans of 'the armed people' or "the revolutionaries;' this led to the spread of weapons across the vast sphere of the Sahel region," he recalled.
Belkhadem urged the international community to let the Libyan people choose whoever should rule whether Col. Muammar Gaddafi or anybody else. (end) ft.gb KUNA 142312 May 11NNNN