Mauritania steps up security
2009-12-21 21:21
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Nouakchott - The Mauritanian government has taken "all necessary measures" to ensure the safety of foreign visitors, the official AMI news agency announced on Monday after the disappearance of two Italians.
"The Mauritanian authorities wish to reaffirm that they have taken all necessary measures to guarantee the safety of foreign nationals," AMI said, without giving details of the steps taken.
Security sources told AFP measures would include a reinforcement of patrols on the main roads used by foreign travellers in the vast country on the western edge of the Sahara.
A pair of Italians travelling on board a minibus disappeared on Friday near Hodh El Gharbi in the southeast, and several security and diplomatic sources said they were "kidnapped by armed men".
According to the first reports, the abduction took place in much the same fashion as the kidnapping of three Spaniards at the end of November in an act claimed by al-Qaeda of the Islamic Maghreb (Aqim).
Aqim
At present, the authorities and the state media have not spoken of any new kidnap. AMI has reported the "disappearance" of the Italians.
Sergio Cicala, 65, and his wife Philomene Kabouree, an Italian of Burkina Faso origin, disappeared on the road between Aioun in Mauritania and Kayes in Mali, close to the village of N'Eissira and to the border, security sources said.
According to the official news agency, the local authorities in "Hodh El Gharbi were informed on the morning of Friday, December 18 of the presence of a small Ivoko 4x4 bus that was empty near the Mauritanian-Malian border."
"Local authorities carried out necessary inquiries to confirm that this bus had during the night [of Thursday and Friday] passed through the Kobeni checkpoint and that there were two people of Italian nationality on board," AMI said.
As well as the three Spaniards, Aqim is holding a French man kidnapped in Mali.
A diplomatic source in Bamako, Mali's capital, said on Sunday he had "precise information" that the Italian couple was in the hands of Aqim somewhere in the Sahel-Sahara desert strip.
"We are waiting for these terrorists to officially claim responsibility for this act," the diplomat said on condition of anonymity.
- SAPA