Mauritanian authorities picked up 66 illegal immigrants trying to reach the Spanish Canary Islands by sea after their boat broke down, a source in the security services said Sunday.

TRIPOLI, Nov 17, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritanian President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi met Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi on Saturday at the start of visit to Tripoli aimed at boosting relations after years of tension.

The trip comes ahead of a European-African conference in Lisbon and aims to strengthen ties which cooled when Mauritania accused Libya of supporting attempts to destabilise the country.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 19, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritanian gendarmes have arrested a forgery expert from the Democratic Republic of Congo who was sought by Interpol, Mauritania's information agency announced Friday.

Mohamed Kissy was arrested carrying a CD with models of visas and stamps from several European countries during a standard control of travelers from Senegal, where he frequently travels, the agency said.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 17, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritanian police probing the Al-Al Qaeda network in north Africa are questioning five suspects, a police source said on Wednesday.

The five were arrested on Tuesday in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott 'on suspicion of having links with the Al-Al Qaeda network in north Africa. At least three of them are dangerous,' said a police official speaking on condition of anonymity.

Around half a dozen others were also questioned but have been released, the official said.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 11, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania will this week launch a new public television channel to give more airtime to the previously marginalised minority languages of the Islamic republic, said its boss on Thursday.

'Broadcasting should start on Friday to coincide with the festivities to mark the end of (the Muslim fast of) Ramadan, with programming tailored towards popular shows and time slots allocated to national languages,' said Hamoud Ould Mhamed.

DAKAR, Oct 6, 2007 (AFP) - Food shortages remain in some areas of western Africa and the Sahel countries such as Mauritania, while the region continues to be affected by floods, a regional food monitoring group said Saturday.

'In Mauritania for example, several sources... estimate that around 400,000 people are living in a food scarcity situation, of which 170,000 are at extreme risk,' the Inter-State Committee for Drought Control in the Sahel said in a statement.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 4, 2007 (AFP) - An appeals court in Mauritania has dropped money laundering charges brought against two lawyers defending a drug trafficker, the state prosecutor said Thursday.

Prosecutors had last month charged Mohamed Ould Ahmed Salem and Khattry Ould Ahmed for money laundering after they received tens of thousands of euros believed to have been advance payment for their services in the defence of a suspected Mauritanian trafficker.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 3, 2007 (AFP) - A Mauritanian freed from the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay after five years of detention and flown back home last week said he was physically and morally tortured while imprisoned.

Mohamed Lemine Ould Sidi Mohamed, who was arrested in Peshawar, Pakistan in 2002, told the press Tuesday that he 'suffered very tough physical and moral torture' before he was acquitted by a US tribunal.

He was freed from Guantanamo in April this year, but awaited repatriation clearance from Mauritania pending verification of his nationality.

NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 2, 2007 (AFP) - Floods that have ravaged nearly half of Africa have added to the perennial food woes of the arid Islamic republic of Mauritania, the UN food agency warned on Tuesday, appealing urgently for aid.

Nearly half a million people risk food shortages in the next three months, according to the UN World Food Programme (WFP).

'Floods in Mauritania are putting greater pressure on its dwindling food supplies for 470,000 people,' said WFP in a statement.

NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 27, 2007 (AFP) - A Mauritanian freed from the US Guantanamo base after five years of detention has been flown back home, a security official and human rights activists said Thursday.

Mohamed Lemine Ould Sidi Mohamed, who was arrested in Pakistan in 2002, was freed from Guantanamo in April this year, but he awaited repatriation clearance from Mauritania pending verification of his nationality.

NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 26, 2007 (AFP) - A planned political party owing allegiance to Mauritania's president will be 'democratic' and not drag the oil-rich west African nation back into being a single-party state, an official said Wednesday.

'We will avoid replicating past experience and committing old mistakes and we are therefore trying to create a democratic party which is firmly turned towards the future,' said Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghef, a minister in the president's office.

NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 21, 2007 (AFP) - A prominent Mauritanian opposition politician has expressed concern at plans to set up a party in support of the new president saying it risked dragging the country back to a single party state.

Ahmed Ould Daddah, who lost to President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in a run-off earlier this year, told the official news agency AMI that he had raised the matter with the head of state.

NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 20, 2007 (AFP) - Two lawyers defending a drug trafficker have been charged with money laundering after they received 200,000 euros believed to be advance payment for their services, a Mauritanian prosecutor said Thursday.

Prosecutors said they believe the money was wired to them by a suspected Mauritanian trafficker.

'The two lawyers defending one of the accused persons in the drug trafficking case were charged (on Wednesday) for involvement in money laundering .. and use of criminally-generated money,' acting prosecutor Ahmed Ould Abdellahi told AFP.

NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 18, 2007 (AFP) - China has waived 44 million euros (61 million dollars) owed by Mauritania, Africa's newest producer of crude oil, the domestic news agency AMI reported Tuesday.

The amount encompasses six interest-free loans and Beijing took the step in keeping with the 'spirit of the Africa-China summit in Beijing' it hosted last year to boost ties with the continent, AMI said.

The pact on the waiver was signed on Monday in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott by Foreign Minister Mohamed Salek Ould Mohamed Lemine and Chinese ambassador Zhang Xun.

NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 8, 2007 (AFP) - An international human rights body on Saturday condemned the torture of suspected Islamists by the Mauritanian government, calling on authorities to punish the torturers and stop the practice.

Suspected terrorists 'all testified as being victims of torture perpetrated by security forces during their detention, with the aim of extracting a confession,' said the International Human Rights Federation (FIDH) in a report released in the Mauritanian capital on Friday.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 27, 2007 (AFP) - A hearing in the trial of a Mauritanian editor of independent daily El Bedil Athalith, charged with slandering the first lady, was Monday postponed indefinitely.

The court on Wednesday postponed proceedings in the case of Sidi Mohamed Ould Ebbe, who was accused of slandering Khatou Mint El Boukhari, wife of new President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

The Arabic newspaper alleged in articles that the first lady abused her position as wife of the head of state to raise funds for a charity organisation she heads.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 23, 2007 (AFP) - A hearing in the trial of a Mauritanian editor of an independent daily El Bedil Athalith, charged with slandering the First Lady has been postponed to next week.

The court on Wednesday postponed proceedings in the case of Sidi Mohamed Ould Ebbe, who was accused of slandering Khatou Mint El Boukhari, wife of new President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallah.

In articles ran last week, the Arabic newspaper alleged the First Lady used her position as wife of the head of state to raise funds for a charity organisation she heads.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 20, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania's state-run mining firm signed a seven-year pact Monday to sell 1.5 tonnes of iron ore annually to China, which has been rapidly extending its financial footprint in Africa.

The deal was signed by Wang Qingtang, vice-president of China Minmetals Corporation, and Mohamed Ali Ould Sidi Mohamed from the National Industrial and Mining Company (SNIM).

'The sale to the Chinese market represents about 21 percent of SNIM's actual production and 18 percent of its targeted output for 2010,' Ould Sidi Mohamed said.

RIYADH, Aug 17, 2007 (AFP) - Saudi King Abdullah on Friday ordered two aid packages worth 20 million dollars each be dispatched to Sudan and Mauritania to help the impoverished African countries hit by severe floods.

The two grants will aim to bring rapid relief to the stricken zones in cooperation with the Saudi Red Crescent and international humanitarian organisations, according to a royal court statement carried by SPA state news agency.

The King also ordered quick medical and food relief to be transferred by Saudi planes to the two countries, it said.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 15, 2007 (AFP) - A Spaniard and a Mexican have been arrested over what is thought to be the biggest drug bust in Mauritania's history, bringing to seven the number now detained, a prosecutor said Wednesday.

The pair were arrested on Tuesday evening in the capital Nouakchott in connection with the 830-kilogramme (1,830-pound) haul on Sunday, prosecutor Ben Amar Ould Veten said.

'Investigators managed to arrest two men following information obtained from the five people arrested in the mini-bus that was transporting the shipment of drugs,' he said.

BRUSSELS, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - A Belgian judge has issued an internatioal arrest warrant for the son of a former Mauritanian president for his alleged links to a drugs ring, a local paper reported Tuesday.

The judge, in the northern Belgian town of Malines, signed the warrant for the arrest of Sidi Mohamed Ould Haidallah, eldest son of former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah, Het Laatste Nieuws reported on its website.

Mohamed Ould Haidallah was arrested in Morocco last month on drug trafficking charges.

BRUSSELS, Aug 14, 2007 (AFP) - A Belgian judge has issued an internatioal arrest warrant for the son of a former Mauritanian president for his alleged links to a drugs ring, a local paper reported Tuesday.

The judge, in the northern Belgian town of Malines, signed the warrant for the arrest of Sidi Mohamed Ould Haidallah, eldest son of former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah, Het Laatste Nieuws reported on its website.

Mohamed Ould Haidallah was arrested in Morocco last month on drug trafficking charges.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 13, 2007 (AFP) - Five people have been arrested in connection with the seizure of 830 kilogrammes (1,830 pounds) of cocaine in Mauritania, officials said.

The drugs worth an estimated 37 million euros (50 million dollars) were found Sunday when authorities searched a minibus, according to judicial sources who called it the largest bust in the northwest African country's history.

Prosecutor Ben Amar Ould Veten said the five people arrested included two Mauritanians, two Moroccans and one Senegalese.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania on Saturday appealed for international aid to rebuild a town which was submerged by flooding this week, causing nearly half the population to lose their homes.

'I have the honour to inform you of the decision to create a special fund for the resettlement of stricken residents and to ask the institutions and friendly countries you represent for contributions,' Finance Minister Abderrahmane Ould Hemma Vezzaz told a press conference.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 11, 2007 (AFP) - Nearly half the population of Tintane will be resettled after flooding submerged the northern half of the southeastern Mauritanian town, a government minister said Friday.

'The new catastrophe obliges the government to think about a definitive solution,' Communication Minister Maohamed Vall Ould Cheikh said after three days of rains caused severe flooding that killed two people in the town some 400 kilometres southeast of capital Nouakchott.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Rights groups Thursday hailed Mauritania's decision to make slavery a crime punishable by up to 10 years in prison in a bid to finally wipe out the persistent practice officially abolished in 1981.

A bill, adopted by parliament late Wednesday, had initially been seen as insufficient by human rights organizations, but it was beefed up by lawmakers during debate.

Under the new law, voted unanimously, people convicted of acts of slavery will for the first time risk between five and 10 years in prison.

LONDON, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Anti-slavery campaigners on Thursday welcomed the criminalisation of slavery in Mauritania as a 'historic step forward' but said work remained to be done to see the law implemented.

The northwest African country's parliament late Wednesday adopted a law for the first time criminalising the practice, which still exists as an extensive problem in all the country's communities, according to campaigners.

'This is a very welcome and a historic step forward,' Anti-Slavery International spokeswoman Beth Herzfeld told AFP.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 9, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania's national assembly late Wednesday adopted a law criminalizing slavery for the first time.

The practice has persisted in certain parts of the north African country despite its official abolition in 1981.

Under the new law, voted unanimously, people convicted of acts of slavery will risk between five and 10 years in prison.

The bill, initially seen as insufficient by several human rights organizations, was beefed up by the deputies and the final result was hailed by SOS-Esclaves, an anti-slavery group.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 8, 2007 (AFP) - Heavy downpours and flooding in Mauritania have killed at least one person and caused major damage, officials told AFP on Wednesday.

At least one person was swept away by the floods overnight Tuesday in the southeastern town of Tintane, a local financial and trading centre, and hundreds of people remained blocked in flooded areas.

An unidentified number of houses collapsed.

Authorities said that rescuers were trying to reach the area but access was difficult because of water gushing down the nearby El-Aguer mountains.

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 2, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania and the US have begun military exercises in the east of the country under a scheme to fight terrorism, illegal immigration and drug trafficking, the American embassy said Thursday.

'The army and security forces of Mauritania and the United States began on Wednesday August 1, a joint training session in the Hodh Charghi region,' near the border with Mali, it said.

NOUAKCHOTT, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - A Mauritania court on Tuesday sentenced five Islamists to between two and five-year jail terms but acquitted nine others on trial for terrorism-related and fraud charges.

Three of those accused of high treason and membership in a terrorist organisation will serve between three- and five-year terms, while two others were each slapped with a two-year suspended sentence.

NOUAKCHOTT, July 31, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania has named Colonel Mohamed Ould Mohamed Saleh, the army's former number two, as its new chief, the government said Tuesday.

He will replace Abderahmane Ould Boubacar, who was a member of the military junta that had formerly been in power.

The presidential decree also named as deputy chief Felix Negry, who was also a member of the former military junta.

President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was sworn in earlier this year in the final step of a successful transfer of power from the military junta.

NOUAKCHOTT, June 27, 2007 (AFP) - A Mauritania court on Tuesday sentenced five Islamists to jail terms of between two and five years but acquitted nine others on trial for terrorism-related and fraud charges.

Three of those accused of high treason and membership of a terrorist organisation will serve between three and five year in prison, while two others were each given two-year suspended sentences, after being convicted on lesser charges.

DAKAR, July 27, 2007 (AFP) - The UN refugee agency said Friday it will begin identifying next week some 20,000 Mauritanian refugees who have been living in Senegal for nearly two decades ahead of their planned repatriation.

'The exercise will allow for the collection of more precise information on the refugees, their regions of origin and their real intentions before the start of the voluntary repatriation in October 2007,' said Francis Kpatinde, the agency's spokesman for western Africa.

NOUAKCHOTT, July 26, 2007 (AFP) - Spain and Mauritania signed an accord here Wednesday on stemming the flow of Mauritanian workers into Spain, a joint communique said.

Spanish Labour Minister Jesus Caldera held talks in the Mauritanian capital to seek ways of stemming the flow of African illegal immigrants into his country, the state news agency said.

According to the communique issued after Caldera`s visit lasting several hours, the text 'does not give Mauritania a determined quota, but offers it preperential treatment following the needs of Spanish business.'

NOUAKCHOTT, July 25, 2007 (AFP) - Mauritania is to conduct a census of people killed during ethnic clashes that rocked the country nearly two decades ago to prepare compensation for their surviving families, an official said.

'A census will be undertaken of those who were illegally condemned to death and contact will be made with the families so as to hand over the necessary compensation,' said Yahya Ould Ahmed El Waghef, secretary of state in the president`s office, quoted by state media.

NOUAKCHOTT, July 25, 2007 (AFP) - Spanish Labour Minister Jesus Caldera held talks in Mauritania on Wednesday to seek ways of stemming the flow of African illegal immigrants into his country, the state news agency said.

Caldera went into talks with his Mauritanian counterpart, Cheikh El Kebir Ould Chbih, 'to finalise an agreement on the regulation and management of migratory influx', Agence Mauritanienne d`Information reported.