After the Mauritanian government, it is the turn of the President of the Republic to warn gold miners to cross the land borders of the country where military operations are taking place. Mohamed Cheikh Ould El Ghazouani yesterday urged gold diggers to “respect the legal rules for preserving lives and not exposing themselves to danger”, report a media in Nouakchott. The Head of State ordered the “administrative, military and security authorities concerned to strictly exercise their functions and to apply the decisions rendered without hesitation or favouritism”.
Operations targeting gold miners in the regions east of the Mur des Sables erected by Morocco or on Algerian territory are frequent. As a reminder, the Mauritanian executive urged its nationals to “avoid these border areas, which are often sensitive military areas, and above all to ensure that they remain within the national territory”.
To limit the number of people killed in strikes attributed to drones of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) or by shots fired by elements of the Algerian army, the Mauritanian authorities carried out, in November 2022, arrests in the ranks of gold miners.