Morocco Hosts North Africa Border Security Conference

Foreign ministers gathered in the Moroccan capital Rabat on Thursday for the second regional ministerial conference on border security in North Africa and the Sahel Region.

The Rabat conference aims to create a regional unit to exchange intelligence information and warnings about threats.

The secretariat of the unit is to be formed in a meeting in Libya in the next two months.

The summit participants also plan to create a center in Rabat where officers from countries in the region can be trained in border surveillance.

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said on Thursday France was considering giving Libya more aid in counter-terrorism, including training more police.

Fabius said the French military presence in Libya's neighbour Mali was needed to help the region. Militants have threatened to attack French interests since Paris sent troops into the country this year.

Since the French intervention in Mali, southern Libya's vast deserts have become a haven for al Qaeda fighters who fled across Mali's border from French forces.

A French priest was kidnapped in northern Cameroon on Wednesday, said the French Foreign Ministry.

No group claimed responsibility but French citizens have been seen as targets since the Mali operation.