Algeria: Government Prepared to Recognize Libya’s NTC

After much hesitation, Algerian Foreign Minister, Mourad Medelci, announced that Algeria was prepared to recognize Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) once it composed a “government representative of all regions.”

Algeria initially balked at acknowledging the NTC’s legitimacy amid fears that it was not committed to fighting Islamist extremists, specifically al-Qaeda.  Additionally, the NTC expressed that it would withdraw support for the Polisario Front, a separatist movement based in the Western Sahara that Algeria and Qaffadi’s regime previously armed and financed.

On Thursday, Russia also recognized the NTC as Libya’s authority after months of hesitation, leaving China as the only member of the UN Security Council that has not endorsed the NTC.