Sidi Mohamed Chmad – Sahara Media envoy to Justice Bakrou
The Minister of Interior and Decentralization, Mohamed Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lamine, said that Mauritania rejected the siege of Mali when the countries of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decided to do so, noting that Mauritania left its borders open and fuel and goods began to enter it from Mauritanian markets and through Mauritanian ports.
The minister was speaking today, Sunday, with Defense Minister Hanen Ould Sidi, Adil Bakro, as part of their visit to the border strip linking Iferne, in the province of Djkni, to the borders of the municipality of Al-Makf, in the province of Paskenou, in the state of Hodh Al-Sharqi, Mauritania.
The Minister of the Interior indicated that the decision not to besiege the eastern neighbor of Mali came from the President of the Republic, the government and the Mauritanian people, and without Mali requesting it.
The minister’s words came in the context of clarifying the depth of Mauritanian financial relations, in which he indicated that the two countries “do not have any problem.”
The minister said, “We did not wait for the request to come to us from Mali. Rather, we did it on our own initiative because they are, firstly, a neighbor and you know the rights of a neighbor. Secondly, because they are Muslims, and thirdly, we have never received anything but goodness from them. They receive our livestock, our merchants, and our patients, and we cross from them towards the African countries where there are… “Our communities.”
The minister added that Mali had previously provided Mauritania with many services, “and when they needed us and in a special security situation, they did not need to ask for our help when the rest of the countries besieged them, so we fulfilled our duty without asking them or against them, and the borders remained open for eight months,” as he put it.
The Minister of the Interior said that when the crisis ended and the siege was lifted, Mali sent a delegation that included five ministers thanking the president, the government and the Mauritanian people for this stance, which they said they would never forget, and which they said came without a request or from him, and that even the Mauritanian media did not mention it.
The Minister of the Interior pointed out that there is a new phenomenon represented in social communication, pointing out that everyone has the right to be like a radio or television broadcasting and transmitting, and he may not be in the field and the information he broadcasts is inaccurate, and he may broadcast old pictures as new, and pictures of a person may be broadcast. He was assaulted and his blood ran cold, and he does not even exist in Mauritania.
The minister said that those who spread incitement, poisoning the atmosphere, and intimidation may “not be concerned with good neighborly relations with this brotherly country, nor the stability of this state (the eastern basin). They may not have information, their intentions may be bad, and they may have their own agendas.”
The minister continued, “Beware of this type of media and its danger.”
