mauritania

What to See on Your Holidays in Mauritania

Mauritania is one of the most famous tourist destinations in the world and is officially known as Mauritania’s Islamic Republic. this place is situated in the north-west of Africa and on its west is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean and on the south-west by Senegal, to southeast and east by Mali and on its northwest by the Western Sahara.

Mauritania is a fascinating country having a colourful culture and an indigenous Moorish population. there are several tourist attractions available to visit in Mauritania where people can enjoy and relish their holidays.

Nouakchott is Mauritania’s capital which was formed in 1960. this city lies near to the sea within low dunes desert landscape scattered with the thorn bushes, on a place adjoining the settlement of old Moorish’s the Ksar. the contemporary buildings maintain traditional architectural style of Berber. the Plage-du Wharf, the Ksar, the mosque, crafts centre, carpet factory, Maison de-la Culture and African market as well as the camel market are worth visiting.

Parc National du Banc da Arguin is perhaps one of the best and most popular tourist attractions, as this park is an immense region of coastline and islands located along side the desert coast of Atlantic midway among Nouadhibou and Nouakchott. UNESCO declared this national park as a World Heritage Site since it is the world’s largest bird sanctuary as well as providing shelter for roughly 2 million migrant birds. Visitors can also enjoy many of the archaeological sites present on this island.

The coast of Mauritania is 500 miles of extensive sandy beaches. this coast supports an astonishingly varied and large population of birds. Nouadhibou, a mounting centre and port for the fishing industry is located on the northern-end of Levrier Bay of Peninsula.

Adrar is a stunning mass of brown and pink plateau covered with gild intersected by the deep canyons protecting the palm groves. this region is located in the north-central part of Mauritania and starts about 200 miles north-east of Nouakchott. Atar is the capital of this region lying on the Salt Caravan’s route. this place is the centre of market for nomads of north Mauritania. it has an ancient mosque as well as library housing the ancient manuscripts and is most visited by the travellers.

A tour to Affole and Assaba regions is very interesting. this is a place which should not be missed. it is situated in the southeast and south of Tagant via Ayoun el Atrous, Tamchakett and Kiffa towards the El Agher’s wild plateau. Here visitors can enjoy several interesting archaeological sites including Koumbi Saleh which was once Ghana Empire’s capital. this region also has an old library, where one can read and gather information and history about this ancient place.

Qaddafi’s spymaster arrested in Mauritania

Abdullah alSenussi, the former spymaster of slain Libyan dictator Col Muammar Qaddafi, was arrested in the Mauritanian capital on Saturday, a security source said.the former Libyan intelligence chief was arrested overnight at Nouakchott airport after arriving on a regular flight from Casablanca in Morocco, the source said, adding that alSenussi was travelling with a fake Malian passport.

AlSenussi was taken to the national intelligence agency’s office in Nouakchott but it remained unclear what the Mauritanian government planned to do with him.

In Tripoli, the spokesman for Libya’s ruling National Transitional Council, Mohammed alHarizi, said it had confirmed alSenussi’s arrest with the Nouakchott authorities. “We have confirmed the arrest of Abdullah alSenussi with the Mauritanian foreign ministry,” he stated.

Another government spokesperson, Nasser alManee said that Libya is seeking the extradition of alSenussi from Mauritania.

“Today the prosecutor general has sent an extradition request to the Mauritanian government through Interpol, who delivered this request to them,” he told a news conference. “Our government is ready to receive Abdullah alSenussi, and give him a fair trial,” he added.

AlSenussi, a brother-in-law of Qaddafi, is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court (ICC) for what it alleges was his crucial role in crushing the country’s popular revolt.

The ICC, which issued an arrest warrant for him on June 27, 2011, claimed that alSenussi was an “indirect perpetrator of crimes against humanity of murder and persecution based on political grounds committed in Benghazi,” However, the court had not officially received information of his arrest.

The capture of the 62-year-old former spy chief came after he spent several months on the run.

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Former Gaddafi spymaster arrested in Mauritania: Source

Abdullah al-Senussi, the spymaster of slain Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi and wanted by the International Criminal Court, has been arrested in the Mauritanian capital, a security source said on Saturday.

The former Libyan intelligence chief was arrested overnight at Nouakchott airport after arriving on a regular flight from Casablanca in Morocco, the source said, adding that Senussi was travelling ‘with a fake Malian passport’.

Senussi, a brother-in-law of Gaddafi, is wanted by the Hague-based International Criminal Court for what it alleges was his ‘crucial’ role in crushing the country’s popular revolt.

The ICC says Senussi was an ‘indirect perpetrator of crimes against humanity of murder and persecution based on political grounds’ committed in Benghazi.

The capture of the 62-year-old spy chief, a heavy-set man with a thick jawline and bushy black eyebrows, comes after he spent several months on the run.

Security sources in Niger and Mali said in October that Senussi and several of his men passed through their territory. a month later, Libya’s new government announced his arrest but no pictures of Senussi have been released since then.

Mauritania arrests Gaddafi spy chief, says state agency

NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) – Mauritanian authorities arrested Muammar Gaddafi's chief of intelligence and right-hand man Abdullah al-Senussi as he entered the country on a false passport, Mauritania's state news agency said on Saturday.

Senussi, who for decades before the late dictator's fall inspired fear and hatred in ordinary Libyans, is sought by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity. If confirmed, his arrest will put an end to months of uncertainty over his whereabouts.

Official Mauritanian agency AMI said Senussi was arrested late on Friday as he arrived at the airport in the West African state's capital Nouakchott on a regular flight from Casablanca in Morocco. It said he was bearing a falsified Malian passport.

Mauritania has not signed the Rome Statute governing the ICC and authorities were not immediately available to confirm the arrest or comment on what they would do with Senussi, the last significant former Gaddafi regime figure still at large.

ICC spokesman Fadi El-Abdallah said he was aware of reports of Senussi's capture.

“We will ask the Mauritanian authorities for an official confirmation and in this eventuality, seek their cooperation for the surrender of the suspect to the court,” he said in a statement. “Mauritania is not a state party (to the Rome treaty), but has been, like all U.N. members, urged by the UNSC (the U.N. Security Council) to cooperate with the ICC.”

Senussi is suspected of a key role in the killing of more than 1,200 inmates at Tripoli's Abu Salim prison in 1996. It was the arrest of a lawyer for victims' relatives that sparked Libya's Arab Spring revolt in February last year.

The ICC has charged Senussi and Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam as being “indirect co-perpetrators” of murder and persecution.

Saif al-Islam was captured disguised as a Bedouin in the Sahara in November is awaiting trial in Libya on rape and murder charges. Libya's National Transitional Council says he will get a fair hearing but his supporters want him sent to the Hague.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, an army general who was toppled his predecessor in a 2008 coup, won election in a 2009 vote decried by rivals as rigged.

Yet France has hailed him as a “key partner” and he went on to play a leading role in the awkward African diplomacy over Libya that finally led to the continent recognising the National Transitional Council as its new leaders.

The case of Senussi may revive interest in international incidents long shrouded in mystery, from the days in the 1980s and 90s when Gaddafi's Libya waged undercover war on the West.

Senussi's name has been linked with the Lockerbie bombing of 1988, while France has said it wants to try Senussi over a 1989 airliner bombing over Niger that killed 170 people including 54 French nationals.

(Reporting by Laurent Prieur; Writing by mark John; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Libya says Gaddafi spy chief arrested in Mauritania (Reuters) – AsiaWorks Newswire

Libya says Gaddafi spy chief arrested in Mauritania

NOUAKCHOTT/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – Mauritania arrested Muammar Gaddafi’s ex-spy chief, Abdullah al-Senussi, after he arrived on an overnight flight, officials said on Saturday, triggering a three-way tussle for his extradition.Senussi, who for decades before the late dictator’s fall inspired fear and hatred in ordinary Libyans, is sought by the Hague-based International Criminal Court on charges of crimes against humanity during last year’s conflict.

But Libya’s new rulers insisted he would have a fair trial there, while France – confirming it played a role in his arrest – stressed his alleged role in the 1989 bombing of an airliner over Niger in which 54 French nationals died.

“Today we confirm the news of the arrest of Abdullah al-Senussi,” Libyan government spokesman Nasser al-Manee told a news conference in Tripoli.

“he was arrested this morning in Nouakchott airport and there was a young man with him. we think it is his son,” he said, confirming a Mauritanian state news agency report that Senussi had been arrested with a false Malian passport arriving from Casablanca, Morocco.

France, which led Western backing for the popular uprising that toppled Gaddafi, said it had cooperated with Mauritanian authorities over the arrest and that it would be sending an arrest warrant to Mauritania.

A statement from President Nicolas Sarkozy’s office noted Senussi had been sentenced in absentia for the 1989 bombing of a UTA airliner, in which 170 people were killed. Families of the victims immediately demanded he face justice in France.

An ICC spokesman said an ICC arrest warrant for Senussi also remained valid and requested that it be implemented, but Libya’s National Transitional Council said Libya would insist Senussi face justice there.

“we insist that Senussi is extradited to Libya,” NTC spokesman Mohammed al-Harizy said. “There are demands from the ICC and France to get Senussi, but the priority is to deliver Senussi to Libya.”

While Mauritania is not a signatory to the Rome Statute governing the ICC, rights groups Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International both said Mauritania was bound by the U.N. Security Council to fully cooperate with the ICC.

Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Amnesty International Deputy Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said in a statement that the Libyan justice system in any case “remains weak and unable to conduct effective investigations into alleged crimes”.

Britain, along with France one of the key Western backers of the insurgency, also cited the need for Mauritania to cooperate with the ICC in a statement attributed to Foreign Secretary William Hague.

The Mauritanian government made no comment on the arrest beyond the report from its official news agency. The Casablanca flight normally arrives at Nouakchott’s small, single-terminal airport just before midnight but workers there questioned by Reuters said they had not been aware of anything unusual.

A military source said Senussi had been taken to one of the residences in the grounds of Nouakchott’s international conference centre which are used to house visiting officials, but it was not immediately possible to verify that information.

Senussi is suspected of a key role in the killing of more than 1,200 inmates at Tripoli’s Abu Salim prison in 1996. It was the arrest of a lawyer for victims’ relatives that sparked Libya’s Arab Spring revolt in February last year.

The ICC has charged Senussi and Gaddafi’s son Saif al-Islam as being “indirect co-perpetrators” of murder and persecution.

But Guillaume Denoix de Saint Marc, president of the families association for the UTA bombing, said they were counting on France to ensure Senussi faced justice for the attack.

“we never lost hope that those responsible for this attack, the most deadly that has hit France, would face justice,” he said in a statement.

Senussi’s arrest provoked equally fierce emotion on the streets of Tripoli.

“Senussi is Gaddafi’s black box, he has a lot of information,” Tripoli resident Mustafa Jhyma said. “he has blood on his hands, he should be brought here and tried in Libya.”

“this is a big moment for Libyans. I wish that he had been arrested here,” another resident Abdullah al-Mory said.

Saif al-Islam was captured disguised as a Bedouin in the Sahara in November and is awaiting trial in Libya on rape and murder charges. Libya’s National Transitional Council says he will get a fair hearing, but his supporters want him sent to The Hague.

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, an army general who toppled his predecessor in a 2008 coup, won election in a 2009 vote decried by rivals as rigged.

Yet France has hailed him as a “key partner” and he went on to play a leading role in the awkward African diplomacy over Libya that finally led to the continent recognizing the National Transitional Council as the country’s new leaders.

(Additional reporting by Roberta Cowan in Amsterdam, Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Tripoli and Lin Noueihed in Tunis; Maria-Victoria Buffery in Paris; Writing by mark John; Editing by Andrew Osborn)

Gadhafi ex-spy chief arrested in Mauritania – World – Canoe.ca

Abdullah al-Senussi, head of the Libyan Intelligence Service, speaks to the media in Tripoli in this August 21, 2011 file photo. (REUTERS/Paul Hackett/Files)

NOUAKCHOTT/TRIPOLI