Ministers from three of Mali’s neighbors will meet Sunday to discuss the crisis in the country, where a Tuareg rebellion has declared independence of the north

Ministers from three of Mali's neighbors will meet Sunday to discuss the crisis in the country, where a Tuareg rebellion has declared independence of the north, Algerian media said.

Tuareg rebel group announced Friday it was ready to help fight the "terrorism" of Al-Qaeda's African branch.

"The National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA) has clearly stated its demarcation from Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) and its willingness to act within the framework of a mobilization of all countries concerned by this curse," its representative in Paris, Mossa Ag Attaher, told AFP.

He said AQIM's "terrorism" was fostered by the "lack of action by the Malian state and the lack of hope for the people of the north who were mistreated or abandoned for decades."

The APS news agency said Mali itself will not be represented at the African talks in Nouakchott of ministers from Algeria, Mauritania and Niger.

Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia told France's Le Monde daily Friday that regional military chiefs would also meet in the Mauritanian capital in the next few days to review the situation in Mali.

Mali's main Tuareg rebel group Friday declared independence for the northern territory it seized from government forces along with an extremist group, taking advantage of a military coup in Bamako.

France's Le Monde daily quoted Algerian Prime Minister Ahmed Ouyahia as saying Algiers was totally opposed to Mali's break-up and wanted dialogue to resolve the crisis in its southern neighbor, AFP reported.

Former colonial power France, the African Union and the European Union also rejected the MNLA's (National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad) declaration of independence.

Meanwhile, The United States also slammed the declaration Friday, joining international refusal to support the move.

"We reject the MNLA's statement of independence and reiterate our call for the territorial integrity of Mali," State Department spokesman Patrick Ventrell told AFP.