France gives Mauritania a boost
2008-02-08 15:20
Nouakchott - France is ready to reinforce its security co-operation with Mauritania after attacks that have raised concern about the spread of al-Qaeda in the African nation, said Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner on Friday.
The fatal shooting of four French tourists near the southern town of Aleg on December 24, and the killing of three soldiers at a northern desert outpost three days later claimed by al-Qaeda's North African branch, prompted the cancellation of the Lisbon-Dakar motor rally for the first time.
In late January, suspected Islamic gunmen opened fire on Israel's embassy in Mauritania, wounding three bystanders including a French woman.
"We are ready to reinforce our cooperation and friendship with Mauritania and particularly with regard to security," Kouchner said in a speech during a two-day visit to Mauritania, flanked by Interior Minister Yall Zakaria.
Mauritania 'relies on friends'
The attacks heightened concerns that al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) was extending its operations to Mauritania, a large, sparsely populated state at the western end of the Sahara.
AQIM was born in January 2007 when Algeria's Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat (GSPC) affiliated itself to Osama bin Laden's armed Islamic militant network.
"These attacks are alien to our culture and we strongly condemn them," Zakaria said in his speech. "We will not allow terrorism to take root here."
"Mauritania relies on its friends to bolster its security systems and reduce the impact of poverty," he said.
The cancellation of the rally, which was due to have eight of its 15 stages in Mauritania, was keenly felt in the poor country straddling black and Arab Africa, where it generated millions of dollars of income.
Kouchner expressed regret over the race's cancellation but said he believed the organisers had made a wise decision after the French government informed them of threats to the rally allegedly from al-Qaeda.
"We understand your sadness but the cancellation does not affect our friendship and our support for you," he said.