Mauritanian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmedsummoned, yesterday Tuesday, March 8, the Ambassador of Mali, Mohamed Dibassito notify him of a protest once morest “recent recurring criminal acts” once morest Mauritanian citizens.
Nouakchott openly accuses the Malian army of deliberately murdering Mauritanian truck drivers and traders. According to local Mauritanian sources, at least 35 Mauritanian civilians were killed in the localities of Bassikounou and Fassala bordering Mali.
In Nouakchott, the authorities are very upset, they believe that “the guarantees given by the government following an incident which led to the death of 7 Mauritanian transporters last January in the border town of Bakrou, did not yield any results.
In a statement quoted by the Anadolu Agency, the Mauritanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs warns: “the lives of our fellow citizens and the security of their property will remain above any other consideration”. For Bamako, this new deadly incident comes at the worst time, moreover, towards a country that allows it to circumvent the ECOWAS embargo via the port of Nouadhibou transformed into a hub for Malian economic operators. In barely veiled terms, Nouakchott is brandishing the threat of closing its port to Malian operators.
