Algeria denies Mercedes convoy enters from Libya
27 Aug 2011 15:52
ALGIERS, Aug 27 (Reuters) - Algeria's Foreign Ministry denied on Saturday a report that a convoy of six Mercedes cars had crossed its border from Libya.
Egypt's state MENA news agency had quoted a source from the rebel Military Council in the border city of Ghadames as saying the convoy of armoured cars crossed the frontier on Friday morning protected by the commander of a desert nomadic military unit that had operated under Muammar Gaddafi.
The agency quoted the source as saying that the convoy may have been transporting senior Libyan officials or even Gaddafi himself.
"This information (about the convoy entering Algeria) has no basis and we categorically deny it," Algeria's state APS news agency quoted a Foreign Ministry spokesman as saying.
Algeria's Foreign Ministry denied on Friday that it was linking its recognition of Libya's rebel National Transitional Council (NTC) to a commitment from the council to crack down on Islamist militants.
A government source in Algeria had told Reuters on Thursday that it would not yet grant recognition to the NTC, and that it wanted to be certain that Libya's rulers were engaged in fighting al Qaeda's north African wing.
(Reporting by Marie-Louise Gumuchian, editing by Rosalind Russell)
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