Algeria and Mauritania on Sunday opened a first ever border crossing between the two countries, Algerian media reported.

Algeria’s Interior Minister Noureddine Bedoui and his Mauritanian counterpart Ahmedou Ould Abdallah inaugurated the post near the Algerian town of Tindouf, telling journalists that it would boost security and trade.

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The national news agency APS said the crossing, agreed in a November 2017 accord, had cost Algiers almost $10 million to build.

The border stretches across 460 kilometres (275 miles) of desert, a region used by smugglers and armed groups. It has been declared a military zone on the Mauritanian side.

(AFP)