Mauritania, Sudan agree to re-establish diplomatic ties

Aug 14, 2006 (NOUAKCHOTT) — Mauritania and Sudan agreed to re-establish diplomatic relations Monday after more than 10 years, officials said.

Sudan closed its embassy in Mauritania’s capital of Nouakchott in 1994, after the arrest of two Sudanese diplomats working for organizations that the previous president accused of financing Islamic extremists. President Maaoya Sid’Ahmed Ould Taya – who ruled Mauritania for 21 years – was often accused of vanquishing his enemies by accusing them of terrorism.

Taya was deposed in August by a bloodless coup led by his longtime national police chief, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall.

Vall, now head of Mauritania’s ruling junta, has promised government reforms and increased freedoms.

Sudan’s minister of state and foreign affairs, Ali Ahmed Kerti, announced the reopening of diplomatic ties during a visit to Nouakchott.

“This decision comes in a new era of economic cooperation marked by the entrance of Sudanese businesses into Mauritania to invest in this country,” Kerti said.

(AP/ST)