While Algeria, Niger and Mauritania are strengthening border security, the measures do not imply "automatic closure" in the event of military intervention in northern Mali, Maghreb Affairs Minister Abdelkader Messahel told Le Soir d'Algerie on Thursday(November 22nd).

"Armed intervention is a last resort after exhausting all avenues of dialogue, which is not yet the case", the minister said. "Algeria is working to encourage the emergence of favourable conditions for a dialogue between the Malian government and armed rebel groups who challenge the territorial integrity of Mali", he said.

Messahel added that the "only victory for Algeria, Mali, the region and the international community" would be to see a Mali "united in its borders, free of the scourges of terrorism and transnational organised crime and where Malians fully exercise their citizenship".