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Mauritania may get Western backing by fighting 'terror'
Mauritania's junta, widely condemned since coming to power in a coup last month, could gain Western support by pledging to fight "terrorism" after a grisly attack blamed on an Al-Qaeda-linked group, analysts say. Eleven Mauritanian soldiers and one civilian who went missing following an ambush of a patrol in the country's north on September 14 were found decapitated over the weekend.Their capture had been claimed by Al-Qaeda's branch in North Africa in a statement on a Web site purporting to be from the group, and Mauritanian authorities have attributed the attack to the organization. The group, which calls itself Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Magreb, is suspected of carrying out attacks throughout the region, gaining the attention of Western powers. "The junta has been weakened. It is a military setback, the army has been humiliated," the editor in chief of the Mauritanian weekly Tahalil Hebdo, Isselmou Ould Moustapha, told AFP. "However it is also strengthened in other ways because there is a sympathy with the victims." The junta will seek "sympathy from the West, which is very sensitive to the terrorist threat and often ready to compromise" to help regimes facing Islamic extremism, he added. Following the attack, France paid tribute to the "resolute commitment in the fight against terrorism" by "the nation and the army," without mentioning the junta. France, the former colonial power in the northwest African nation, had led international condemnation of the August 6 coup that overthrew the country's first democratically elected leader. Besides France, Mauritania's other main donors - the European Union and the United States - also condemned last month's bloodless coup that ousted President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. They have called for a return to constitutional order and for the president to be released from house arrest, but some say the September 14 attack could help change the diplomatic tone. On Sunday, the European Union issued a statement condemning the attack and expressing its "solidarity in the fight against terrorism." The September 14 attack "will strengthen the junta's arguments that the international community should not sanction or isolate the country because the security situation remains fragile," said Alain Antil, a researcher at the French Institute for International Relations. A diplomatic source signaled that the mood of the international community could already be changing. "This is a difficult time for Mauritania, but we should not remain passive under the pretext that we do not recognize the military regime," the diplomatic source told AFP on condition of anonymity. Last week, the European Union invited the junta, led by General Mohammad Ould Abdel-Aziz, for talks related to the situation created by the coup, and the meeting could be held in the second week of October. Until recently largely untouched by attacks, Mauritania has been shaken by four in under a year blamed on extremists linked to Al-Qaeda. The decapitations of the soldiers, in the middle of Islam's holy month of Ramadan, has sent shock waves throughout the country. "This is the first time something like this has happened in Mauritania," said Antil. "They wanted to shock public opinion." Posted by: Fred 2008-09-24 |
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