AP Interview: Algeria admits mistakes in standoff
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) -- Algeria's foreign minister acknowledged that security forces made mistakes in a hostage crisis at a Saharan gas plant in which dozens of foreign workers were killed during Algerian military strikes.
Mourad Medelci also conceded that Algeria will need international help to fight terrorism. Algeria's decision to refuse foreign offers of aid in handling the crisis, and to send the military to fire on vehicles full of hostages, drew widespread international criticism.
"We are in the process of assessing our mistakes," Medelci told The Associated Press in an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Friday.
He did not, however, identify any mistake or address specific criticism of the chaotic and bloody operation. But overall, he suggested that the Algerian government did the right thing.
"In that assessment we are leaning more towards establishing that the operation was a success," he said.
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