Frankfurt, Germany (TMT)-Mauritania declared the First Counselor at the Algerian Embassy in Nouakchott, Belkacem Cherouati a persona non grata after this latter shoehorned an article on the notorious Mauritanian outlet “Al-Bayan El-Souhoufi” falsely claiming that “Mauritania has filed a complaint against Morocco to the United Nations” for “flooding Mauritania with cannabis to support terrorist groups in the region.”
According to an interview Mauritanian political analyst Baba Weld Horma gave yesterday to Al-Jazeera Arabic in its “Late Night Edition”, the said article “falsely claimed that the money generated from smuggling cannabis to Mauritania was used by Morocco’s authorities proxies in North Africa to finance terrorism in Mali.”
Baba Weld Horma told Al-Jazeera that “indeed, a recent United Nation report claims that cannabis floods Mauritania from the porous northern borders, but this very report stresses that the northern regions concern mainly the Polisario controlled swaths of land, in addition to the Algerian territories.”
Baba Weld Horma added that “the Mauritanian authorities summoned the editor-in-chief of the said outlet, Mr. Ibrahim Ould Moulaye Ahmed for an investigation,” further stressing that “he is still currently at the locals of the police.”
According to the Nouakchout-based outlet Al-Akhbar, the Algerian diplomat visited the locals of “Al-Bayan El-Souhoufi” few days prior to the publication of the said article.
It is not clear yet whether the Algerian diplomat payed the Mauritanian journalist for this service or not.
Mauritania declared Algerian diplomat Belkacem Cherouati a persona non grata as his move “undermines the external relations of Muritania.”
“Belkacem Cherouati has already quit the Mauritanian territories,” Baba Weld Horma told Al-Jazeera.
The Moroccan Times.
