RABAT (Morocco) - US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice arrived in Morocco on Saturday on the last leg of a North Africa visit after holding talks on terrorism in Algeria with President Abedelaziz Bouteflika.

She was met at the airport by Moroccan counterpart Taieb Fassi Fihri and immediately headed into talks with Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi and his foreign minister.

'All international and regional issues will be discussed,' a Moroccan government official told wire agencies.

Rabat has said that relations between the two countries were excellent.

The fight against terrorism, the Western Sahara and the integration of the Arab Maghreb Union were expected to be on the agenda of her talks.

Dr Rice said after a two-hour meeting with the Algerian president earlier in the day, 'We have talked about our strong interest in fighting terrorism, our counterterrorism cooperation and I said to the president that I was very saddened at the loss of life of innocent Algerians in recent terror incidents.'

55 people died in three attacks - two car bombs and one suicide blast killing 43 - in a 48-hour period in Algeria in August.

Dr Rice's route within Algeria was the subject of heightened security precautions, after a jihadist on an Islamist website urged the north African branch of Al-Qaeda to assassinate Dr Rice during her regional tour.

'Our counter-terrorism people think that our cooperation is good,' she said. 'But there is always more you can do to tighten sharing of information.'

Several Algerian newspapers reported on Saturday that the army killed an armed Islamist, said to be a senior member of Al-Qaeda's Maghreb organisation, in the eastern Kabylie region, although no official confirmation was forthcoming.

Dr Rice was pressed on a history of north African detainees at Guantanamo Bay seeking asylum in the US or elsewhere based on fears over their safety upon repatriation, with court judgments invariably required.

Her reaction to reports by rights organisations who say terror suspects at the US naval base in Cuba have been known to disappear upon their return was also a theme in earlier visits to Libya and Tunisia, and was due to be reprised in Morocco.

'We believe this is okay,' Dr Rice stated. 'You know that our goal is to work with the right security provisions and the right human rights protection for the people. Our goal is to return as many people to their country of origin as possible.'

Dr Rice did not indicate if the pair discussed the disputed Western Sahara territory.

The head of the Algerian-backed Polisario Front, Mohamed Abdelaziz, urged Dr Rice to convince Rabat to 'respect the right of the Saharawi people' to self-determination, SPS news agency reported.

Morocco and Polisario have been engaged in UN-sponsored negotiations over the former Spanish colony's future since June last year.

After her landmark meeting on Friday with former Western pariah, Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, Dr Rice said she held a 'very good and extensive discussion' with Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on Saturday morning.

However, she ignored the fifth Maghreb nation of Mauritania, amid US refusal to recognise the legitimacy of its leaders after a military coup there.

The Tunisian talks focused on reforms in the country. Mr Ben Ali was nominated as a candidate in July for a fifth five-year term come presidential elections in 2009.

Dr Rice told journalists on the flight to Algiers that there had been some political reform, but stressed that Washington made very clear its hope that Tunis would do more - particularly in the lead up to the 2009 election.

She said she wanted to see media access, freedom on the Internet and access to television for the opposition enshrined as political rights.

But she also highlighted 'the extraordinary role of women in Tunisia,' adding: 'Women have made great progress here.'

Dr Rice arrived in Tunis from Tripoli where she was the first US secretary of state to visit for 55 years, sealing a rapprochement between the two countries in a timely foreign policy success for the outgoing administration of George W Bush. -- AFP