ALGIERS, Feb 12: US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld met Algerian leaders on Sunday to explore a strategic relationship with Algiers by expanding military and security ties.

Rumsfeld was believed to be the first US defence secretary to visit Algeria, a former leader of non-aligned states that has turned toward Washington since crushing a Muslim insurgency.

“It is a new strategically interesting relationship,” a senior US defence official said.

Rumsfeld met Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia shortly after arriving here from Tunis.

He meets later with President Abdelaziz Bouteflika and other senior Algerian officials to discuss expanded military cooperation including arms sales.

The senior official said the Algerians were looking to replace ageing fighter aircraft but Washington is inclined to begin with more modest military sales.

Night-vision gear, equipment that contributes to mobility and English-language training were areas of possible cooperation, the official said.

However, he said forming closer military ties is complicated by sensitivities of long-

time US allies Morocco and Tunisia and US human rights concerns.

“We want to help them defeat vicious terrorism, but we have to do it in a way our own Congress would be comfortable with,” the senior official said.

A civil war that began in 1992 when the army cancelled an election that an Islamic party was poised to win has taken more than 150,000 lives.

Morocco and Tunisia — poor and less militarily powerful than energy-rich Algeria —- worry that closer ties between Algiers and Washington might put them at a disadvantage.

“They are nervous about the balance of power in the region,” the official said. “It’s a delicate matter for us, developing a relationship with Algeria in a way that doesn’t unnerve our two smaller friends,” he said.

The United States and Algeria began working towards closer military ties after a visit by Bouteflika to Washington in May. Rumsfeld was to continue on to Morocco later in the day.—AFP