/ 7 July 1999

MAURITANIA ANGERED BY ARREST

AUTHORITIES in Mauritania have decided to expel all French military advisers and to introduce visa requirements for visiting French citizens beginning in August. The measures, announced in Nouakchott Monday, are in retaliation for the indictment and imprisonment of a Mauritinian army officer, Naine Ely Ould Dah. Ould Dah allegedly tortured detainees between 1990 and 1991. He was arrested while attending a course in France, after exiled Mauritanians, exiled in France, filed a complaint in a court in Montpellier against Ould Dah. Nouakchott has also decided to recall all Mauritanian soldiers currently undergoing training in France. The Mauritanian Parliament has demanded the release of Ould Dah, now imprisoned in Montpellier, 750km south of Paris.