Mali-Mauritania border: Security official denies escalation

Amid rising tensions at the Mauritania-Mali border, a Mauritanian official has denied that the situation will escalate further, according to RFI and agencies on April 14th.

Since February, the Malian Armed Forces (FAMA) have been accused of killing multiple people in the Mauritania-Mali border region, with the killings sometimes perpetrated alongside Russian auxiliaries.

The Yélimané region has been particularly affected by the violence, as FAMA conducted mass arrests in the Fulani community, which is persecuted throughout the Sahel over alleged Islamist ties.

Despite reports of killings at the border and Mauritanian authorities urging citizens not to travel to Mali over safety concerns, a Mauritanian official has denied that the situation will escalate further.

Mohamed Abdallahi Taleb Abeidy, former Deputy Director General of National Security and head of the defence department at Nouakchott’s House of Strategic Studies and Research (EDDAR), rejected these claims.

He said, “There hasn’t been an incursion into Mauritanian territory; it’s more due to the strong pressure from armed groups.”

Militants from the al-Qaeda-affiliated JNIM are active in the border region, where they have launched attacks against FAMA and the Russian Africa Corps.

JNIM are responsible for the ongoing Malian fuel blockade, where they exploited Mali’s landlocked status and reliance on fuel imports to destabilise the military junta.

FAMA and Russian forces also face violence from Tuareg separatists in northern Mali; the group has waged war against the government since their latest uprising began in 2012.

Speaking on reports that FAMA patrolled Mauritanian villages in Malian territory on April 11th, Abeidy said, “This incident has been blown out of proportion.”

“The Mauritanian flag was not lowered, and there was no violence against the Mauritanian population.”

“Perhaps the locals were unaware that they were on Malian territory. That’s why they perceived it as a provocation.”

FAMA conducted cross-border raids on Mauritanian villages in the Hodh El Gharbi region on March 25th; they ordered villagers to remove a Mauritanian flag, but retreated after villagers refused.

Additionally, the killings of two Mauritanian herders in the border region by an “armed force” on March 20th and the executions of five Mauritanian villagers on March 26th led Mauritanian authorities to express “deep concern” about human rights violations.

Reportedly, the borders in the Hodh El Gharbi region are not clearly marked on the ground, with residents crossing the Mauritanian-Mali border daily without realising it.

RFI and agencies, Maghrebi.org