Country Reports on Terrorism 2012

(CEMOC), based in Tamanrasset, Algeria, since CEMOC's creation in 2010. An AU/ECOWAS
sponsored military training mission has been planned cooperatively with members of the Malian
Armed Forces Chiefs of Staff.
Countering Radicalization and Violent Extremism: Malian officials and prominent religious
leaders routinely condemned violent extremist ideology and terrorist acts. As a general matter,
violent extremist ideologies have not found a receptive audience among Malians.
MAURITANIA
Overview: The Government of Mauritania continued to take a firm stance against terrorism.
Regional events have caused President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz to shift the military’s focus
from offensive operations to border security and protection of the homeland. Al-Qa’ida in the
Islamic Maghreb remained a threat. However, Mauritania applied effective measures to counter
terrorist activity, enhancing initiatives launched in 2011.
During a national press conference on November 29, President Aziz confirmed the readiness of
the armed forces to react to terrorists approaching Mauritanian territory and announced the
construction of a new airbase at Limreye, in the heart of the desert some 500 miles east of
Nouakchott. President Aziz has used his public addresses to explain Mauritania’s past forays into
northern Mali as a response to terrorist attacks on Mauritanian soil, which targeted Mauritanian
citizens and their interests. President Aziz has excluded Mauritania’s participation in an
international military intervention in northern Mali, but has vowed to respond swiftly and
strongly to any threat to the safety of Mauritanian citizens or foreign residents in Mauritania.
Under the framework of the Trans-Sahara Counterterrorism Partnership, U.S. training for
specialized Mauritanian counterterrorism battalions continued. Mauritania also participated in
the Department of State’s Antiterrorism Assistance program, which strengthened Mauritania’s
counterterrorism capacity by providing training and equipment to the national police,
gendarmerie, and civil aviation agency. Mauritania’s enthusiastic reception of U.S. AFRICOM
Commander General Carter Ham during his September 26-27 visit highlights the two countries’
bilateral partnership.
Legislation, Law Enforcement, and Border Security: Mauritania continued to arrest,
prosecute, and convict terrorists. The Mauritanian judiciary convicted four individuals for
terrorism-related offenses in 2012.
On March 10, Mauritania’s state news agency confirmed the release of a gendarme who
had been abducted by terrorists in December 2011 from his post in Adel Bagrou (1700
kilometers southeast of Nouakchott). President Aziz said that the armed forces also
carried out raids on the terrorists involved in the kidnapping.
On April 4, Mauritanian police took former al-Qa’ida member, Mauritanian Mahfoudh
Ould Waled, also known as Abu Hafs, into custody upon his arrival at Nouakchott
International Airport. Waled had returned to Mauritania from Iran, where he had been
detained since 2002, after having fled Afghanistan. After questioning him, the
Mauritanian authorities did not deem Waled a threat and released him on July 5.
In May, an appeals court affirmed the convictions and sentences of the three terrorists
responsible for the 2009 murder of an American citizen in Nouakchott. Though one of
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