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| Africa North |
| Nouakchott protests Mali release of al-Qaeda convicts |
| 2010-02-24 |
| [Maghrebia] Mauritania on Monday (February 22nd) expressed "outrage" over Mali's release of four Salafist prisoners last week and recalled its Ambassador to Mali for "consultations" on the matter. Normally diplomatic notes don't start "What the hell?" "In a surprising move, Malian authorities handed over to a terrorist organisation a Mauritanian citizen sought by Mauritanian justice," the Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation (MAEC) said in a statement, adding that the measure is "a violation of agreements signed by both countries in the areas of judicial co-operation and security coordination". Malian authorities on February 18th released the four prisoners in what analysts called a deal to save the life of Pierre Camatte. The Frenchman was kidnapped last November in Mali by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), which has also claimed responsibility for abducting three Spanish aid workers and an Italian couple in Mauritania. A leader of the ruling Union for the Republic Party (URP), Saleh Ould Dehmach, told Magharebia on February 21st: "With all due respect for Malian sovereignty, I think that such an unprecedented step poses a hazard to the entire region." "The Malian authorities should have respected the rights of their neighbour before taking such an action," added the URP official. "This is more of a reward to a group of outlaws." Dehmach said Mauritania is not intimidated by groups like AQIM and that "Mauritanian authorities have mobilised the security forces ... to face down terrorist groups that carry out criminal operations in the region and take foreign hostages". In response to criticism, an advisor to Malian President Amadou Toumani Touré was quoted by AFP as saying: "We had a problem: how to do everything we could to save the life of the Frenchman". "It was our duty to ask people in the north (of Mali) to get involved. We owe this to France, a friendly country," the advisor told the agency on February 22nd. But many Mauritanians contacted by Magharebia said that by giving in to al-Qaeda's demands, Mali would make kidnapping foreigners a profitable business across the region, with heavy consequences for development. "I think the Malian state ought to have handed over the wanted Mauritanian terrorist to the Mauritanian government instead of releasing him," said merchant Saeid Bouh Ould Lemrabott. "Releasing AQIM activists and paying ransoms will enhance all forms of terrorism, including trading in foreigners." |
| Posted by:Fred |