ALGIERS, Algeria — Algeria has found in the United States an unexpected ally supporting its stance against military intervention in Libya. Washington has also backed Algeria’s attempts to begin a national dialogue between Libyans, just as it did in Mali. Algeria sought the help of Tunisian Islamist leader Rachid Ghannouchi to push Libyan Islamists to participate in the dialogue set for sometime in October.

Algeria, which has deployed large numbers of troops to secure its southern and eastern borders with Libya and Tunisia following the rise of Islamist militants, has publicly opposed talk of Western military intervention in Libya following the recent battles among militias in the Libyan capital, Tripoli.

Foreign Minister Ramadan Lamamra said during the Madrid conference for Libya on Sept. 17, “The role of international organizations is to help rather than interfere, regardless of the form of interference, in Libya.”

Algeria realizes that the crisis in Libya is not only political, and it proposed the implementation of UN Resolution 2174 to cut off the supply of arms to the fighting parties as a security solution. During the Madrid conference, which Spain initiated, Algeria recognized the importance of “communicating for an immediate cease-fire and implementing the [arms] ban decided by the UN.”