Growing threats in the Sahel pose a major challenge for Algeria and Mauritania, prompting the two countries to boost bilateral military cooperation to avoid risks that could affect them directly.
To address these threats, a high-level Algerian military delegation, led by Chief of Army Staff Lieutenant General Said Chengriha, travelled to Nouakchott this past week.
Mauritania’s Chief of Army Staff, Lieutenant General Mokhtar Bellah Chaabane, received his Algerian counterpart and the accompanying delegation, announcing after the meeting that his country and Algeria plan to conduct joint patrols along their common 460-kilometre border, which is frequently used by criminal and smuggling networks.
During his visit to Nouakchott, Chengriha led a delegation that included military leaders, including the head of the intelligence service, Major General Belkaim Hasnat, and the central security director, Brigadier General Agribi Mohsen.
Shortly after their arrival in the Mauritanian capital, the Algerian military delegation held talks at the Presidential Palace with President Mohamed Ould Sheikh Al-Ghazouani.
According to the official Mauritanian news agency, the director of communication of the Mauritanian army general staff, Colonel Sayed Mohamed Hadid, said that the Algerian delegation’s visit ‘embodies the will of the armies of the two countries to strengthen the bonds of brotherhood and friendship’.
Said Chengriha, Algeria’s Chief of Staff – PHOTO/FILE
He added that the two countries are working to ‘advance the level of bilateral military cooperation and bring new approaches, especially with regard to the partnership of the two countries in the field of the fight against violent extremism and organised crime taking place in the Sahel region’.
The armies of Algeria, Mauritania, Mali and Niger coordinate efforts to combat terrorism and organised crime in the region within the framework of a joint operational staff committee established in 2010.
Jihadist organisations are present in many African countries, especially in the Sahel countries, launching frequent attacks on military barracks. In addition, these nations also suffer from widespread poverty and political instability.
Map of the Sahel – AFP/AFP
To address these economic and security challenges, the Group of African Sahel States, comprising Mauritania, Chad, Burkina Faso, Niger and Mali, was established in Nouakchott in 2014. However, the latter three countries withdrew years later after coups d’état.
Sahel expert Ahmed Ould Mohamed Al-Mustafa tells Al-Arab that Mauritania and Algeria are linked by ‘strong and diverse relations due to their neighbourhood, interests and common history’. However, ‘it is not possible to ignore another perspective that seems urgent and pressing for both sides, which is the recent security developments in the Sahel region in general, and in northern Mali in particular’.
‘Violent clashes between the Malian army and the Russian Wagner group on the one hand and the Azawadi militants on the other have reached areas close to the borders of the two countries, and therefore need coordination at military and security level,’ he added.
File photo, Tuareg fighters from the Coordination of Azawad Movements (CMA) in Kidal, northern Mali – PHOTO/AFP
He also underlined ‘the transformation that the Sahel region in general is undergoing’, highlighting new alliances with Russia, as well as China’s growing economic influence.
‘In addition to the pressures imposed by the West to confront Russian-Chinese expansion, all this makes Algeria and Mauritania push for rapprochement and coordination in order to avoid risks that could affect their stability,’ he says.
However, each country has a different role in the region. While Algeria is closer to the Russian-Chinese Eastern alliance, Mauritania has strengthened its ties in recent years with the West, especially with NATO, the United States and the European Union.
Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune – AFP/RYAD KRAMDI
For his part, Mohamed Al-Hafiz Al-Ghabid, a journalist specialising in the Sahel, points out that coordination between Mauritania and Algeria ‘is of the utmost importance to confront the dangerous transformations of organised crime in the region’.
‘The crises in Mali and Niger have repercussions in Mauritania and Algeria, and this has become evident in recent months, as both countries have received tens of thousands of displaced people as a result of the deteriorating security and humanitarian situation in these countries,’ he explained.
Al-Ghabid believes that the Algerian military delegation’s visit to Nouakchott comes against a backdrop of ‘changing international alliances’, as the region is experiencing ‘a growing Russian-Chinese influence that has so far undermined French and US influence’.
Source link : https://www.atalayar.com/en/articulo/politics/algeria-and-mauritania-bring-closer-together-in-the-face-of-threats-in-the-sahel/20241019100000206407.html
Author :
Publish date : 2024-10-19 08:00:00
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source.