Country Reports on Terrorism 2012 - Mauritania

Overview: The Government of Mauritania continued to take a firm stance against terrorism. Regional events have caused President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to shift the military's focus from offensive operations to border security and protection of the homeland. Al-Qa'ida in the Islamic Maghreb remained a threat. However, Mauritania applied effective measures to counter terrorist activity, enhancing initiatives launched in 2011.

During a national press conference on November 29, President Aziz confirmed the readiness of the armed forces to react to terrorists approaching Mauritanian territory and announced the construction of a new airbase at Limreye, in the heart of the desert some 500 miles east of Nouakchott. President Aziz has used his public addresses to explain Mauritania's past forays into northern Mali as a response to terrorist attacks on Mauritanian soil, which targeted Mauritanian citizens and their interests. President Aziz has excluded Mauritania's participation in an international military intervention in northern Mali, but has vowed to respond swiftly and strongly to any threat to the safety of Mauritanian citizens or foreign residents in Mauritania.

Under the framework of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership, U.S. training for specialized Mauritanian counterterrorism battalions continued. Mauritania also participated in the Department of State's Antiterrorism Assistance program, which strengthened Mauritania's counterterrorism capacity by providing training and equipment to the national police, gendarmerie, and civil aviation agency. Mauritania's enthusiastic reception of U.S. AFRICOM Commander General Carter Ham during his September 26-27 visit highlights the two countries' bilateral partnership.

Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Mauritania continued to arrest, prosecute, and convict terrorists. The Mauritanian judiciary convicted four individuals for terrorism-related offenses in 2012.

• On March 10, Mauritania's state news agency confirmed the release of a gendarme who had been abducted by terrorists in December 2011 from his post in Adel Bagrou (1700 kilometers southeast of Nouakchott). President Aziz said that the armed forces also carried out raids on the terrorists involved in the kidnapping.

• On April 4, Mauritanian police took former al-Qa'ida member, Mauritanian Mahfoudh Ould Waled, also known as Abu Hafs, into custody upon his arrival at Nouakchott International Airport. Waled had returned to Mauritania from Iran, where he had been detained since 2002, after having fled Afghanistan. After questioning him, the Mauritanian authorities did not deem Waled a threat and released him on July 5.

• In May, an appeals court affirmed the convictions and sentences of the three terrorists responsible for the 2009 murder of an American citizen in Nouakchott. Though one of the terrorists received the death penalty, the government had appealed the other two original sentences, which it considered too lenient, seeking 30 years for the defendant who had received a 12-year sentence and 15 years for the defendant previously sentenced to three years. On September 27, the authorities released one of the defendants, Mohamed Ould Ghadda, after he completed his three-year prison sentence.

• In November, local and international media reported that Mauritania's security services arrested a French national in Nema (1200 kilometers southeast of Nouakchott) suspected of attempting to engage in terrorist activity in Timbuktu.

Countering Terrorist Finance: Mauritania is a member of the Middle East and North Africa Financial Action Task Force, a Financial Action Task Force-style regional body, and has observer status with the Inter-Governmental Action Group against Money Laundering in West Africa. Mauritania's Financial Intelligence Unit, known by its French acronym CANIF, collaborated with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime on anti-money laundering/combating the financing of terrorism training. Although there is legislation regulating alternative remittances, Mauritania did not have the resources to monitor the sizable flow of funds through money and value transfer systems, most notably hawala, nor did the government consider it a priority. For further information on money laundering and financial crimes, we refer you to the 2013 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR), Volume 2, Money Laundering and Financial Crimes: http://www.state.gov/j/inl/rls/nrcrpt/index.htm.

Regional and International Cooperation: Mauritania continued its strong engagement with international and regional partners, taking a leadership role in multilateral fora, particularly the 5+5 Initiative, and facilitated greater cooperation on security issues through regional meetings in Nouakchott. On February 18, the Arab Maghreb Union, which consists of Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, and Libya, selected Mauritania as co-president of the foreign affairs committee of the 5+5 Initiative focused on regional security challenges for countries in the Mediterranean (Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, Morocco, Libya, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, and Malta). Mauritania's Defense Minister Ahmedou Ould Mohamed Radhi called for an end to paying ransoms for hostages at a 2011 meeting of 5+5 Defense Ministers. President Aziz attended the 5+5 October 4, 2012 conference for heads of state in Malta.

On January 23 and April 8, the Foreign Ministers of the field countries, known as the pays du champ (Mauritania, Algeria, Mali, and Niger), met in Nouakchott to discuss regional responses to the instability in Mali. On July 11, the chiefs of staff of the armed forces of these countries represented in the Committee of Joint Operational Staff gathered in Nouakchott to focus on the terrorist threat in northern Mali.

Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism: The Government of Mauritania continued to collaborate with independent Muslim religious organizations to promote moderation and to counter violent extremism. The Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Traditional Education and the International Wasatiyya (Centrist) Forum co-sponsored a January conference on "Reformist Thought and Banishment of Violent Discourse." In March and April, the Ministry of Islamic Affairs and Traditional Education organized a series of training seminars for 170 imams across the country, in cooperation with the independent Union of Imams group. The training focused on Islam's role in society, the danger of violent Islamist extremism, and the unity of rite in a harmonious society.

On September 24, Arab Maghreb Union Ministers of Islamic Affairs opened a two-day meeting in Nouakchott to discuss the role of Sunni Islam in promoting tolerance and moderation. The conference's theme was the creation of a unified strategy to counter violent extremism and terrorism "perpetrated under the label of Islam." After a meeting with President Aziz on the margins of the event, Libyan Minister of Religious Affairs, Hamza Abul Fariss, declared that the five countries decided to create a new TV channel with the goal of presenting "the real moderate and tolerant image of Islam."

The government also continued to broadcast a state-sponsored Quranic radio station and sponsored regular TV programming on themes of moderation in Islam. On July 23, the government announced the recruitment of 300 moderate imams, bringing the total number to 800.