MAGHAREBIA.COM
Mauritania and Niger signed a military cooperation agreement in Nouakchott in August 2013 that both sides hope will help combat terrorism in the Sahel.
Nigerien Foreign Minister Mohamed Bazoum signed the accord after the first Mauritania-Niger Joint Commission session, Agence France-Presse reported. Bazoum also met Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz during the two-day conference.
“Mauritania and Niger are two brother countries united by a strong fabric of historical, cultural, sociological, geographical and security relations,” Mauritanian Foreign Minister Hamadi Ould Baba Ould Hamadi said. “Our two countries indeed share a common destiny at three levels: subregional, regional and international.”
Niger was the target of a major terrorist attack in May 2013 that killed dozens. An al-Qaida splinter group led by Mokhtar Belmokhtar later claimed credit for the bombings in Arlit and Agadez.
Mauritania’s top diplomat also said the two sides discussed the Mali crisis, praising the French and African intervention. “This intervention broke the criminal aggression of terrorist gangs, destroyed their infrastructure, and restored the sovereignty of Mali over its entire territory,” he said.
Niger already has troops in Mali as part of the United Nations peacekeeping mission, and Mauritania was expected to send up to 1,800 troops by the end of 2013.
Bazoum said he welcomed “the clearly visible willingness” of both sides to further strengthen long-standing ties. “The values of religion and civilization that our two peoples have in common, as well as our faith in the future of relations between our two countries, are a strong base from which to respond to the expectations of peace, democracy, freedom and development of our two fraternal peoples,” he said.
Terror expert Sidati Ould Cheikh said, “The two countries have already achieved good results in the context of security cooperation and agreed to strengthen cooperation in order to prevent and fight more effectively against transnational organized crime in all its forms, especially terrorism, illicit trafficking of arms, drugs, human trafficking, kidnapping, hostage-taking and money laundering.”
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