First Independent Mena Newspaper
The anti-smuggling operation that Morocco launched to clear the southernmost tip of the Saharan provinces of all sorts of illegal commercial activities had a geopolitical impact in terms of barring the road for Algeria and its allies in Nouakchott from creating a camp where they intended to dislocate some of the population held against their […]
A number of recent developments noticed both in Mauritania and Morocco have heralded normalization of diplomatic ties between the two Maghreb countries following a recent tension in their relations, after a change in Mauritania’s stand vis-à-vis the Polisario Front, which disputes Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara territory. One strong signal of a thaw in […]
The Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, in power since 2008, has been unshaken by the opposition for many reasons, but if he still has a tight grip on the country, it is mainly due to the faithfulness of some men of trust. One of those men, says West Africa Newsletter, is Mohamed Ould Ghazouania; Chief […]
A court in Nouakchott has upheld the prison sentences handed to two sons of former Mauritanian president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla involved in a drug trafficking case, reports say. Ely Cheikh and Sidi Mohamed Ould Haidalla saw the prison sentences they were handed in June confirmed, their lawyer Moctar Ould Ely told the media on […]
Following the operation launched by Moroccan authorities to clear the border area with Mauritania of all trafficking and illegal commercial activities, the Royal Armed Forces strengthened their level of vigilance in the southern provinces in light of intelligence reports warning of a potential attempt by the Polisario to smuggle an arms cargo into the Kingdom. […]
The United States has recently condemned in strong terms the imprisonment and the torture endured by anti-slavery activists in Mauritania. The US condemnation came after a court in Mauritania handed 13 members of the slavery abolitionist movement (known by its acronym IRA) sentences ranging from three to 15 years. “The United States is gravely concerned […]
The Mauritania state prosecutor Wednesday demanded 20-year prison sentence for members of the Mauritanian anti-slavery association arrested last month for “prompting armed protest in a slum of capital Nouakchott.” Thirteen people among whom 10 members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) have been standing trial since August 3. The defendants […]
The operation led by Moroccan security services in the southernmost tip of the Kingdom is a police operation conducted in coordination with the UN and Mauritania to curb smuggling and cross-border illegal commercial activities. Expert in regional issues Abderrahmane Mekkaoui told Le360.ma website that the polisario’s allegations of Morocco mobilizing its army to violate the […]
Morocco mobilizes its security forces along with customs services in a clampdown on smugglers in the southernmost tip of the country on the borders with Mauritania. A statement issued by Dakhla regional authorities said that the operation started on August 14 in Guerarat on the borders with Mauritania with the aim of clearing the region […]
Thirteen anti-slavery activists on trial in Mauritania said they have been tortured during their detention, their lawyers said. The activists, on trial for “rebellion and use of violence”, were arrested last month after riots in a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the west African country prepared for an Arab League summit. […]