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Mauritanians Doubt Existence of CIA Prisons in Their Country 525 words 9 July 2007 Voice of America Press Releases and Documents English CY Copyright (c) 2007 Federal Information & News Dispatch, Inc. VOA English Service DATELINE: Dakar Many Mauritanians says they do not believe claims made by an American journalist, and denied by their government, that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency maintains secret interrogation cells in their country. Many also say they do not support military cooperation with the United States. Naomi Schwarz has more from VOA's West Africa bureau in Dakar. The affair began with a tiny mention in a long article in an American magazine, The New Yorker. The author says a senior intelligence official, unnamed, told him the United States had opened a new detainee center in Mauritania in late 2005 to house and interrogate terrorism suspects. The claim has been reprinted in Mauritanian media. It has caused a huge reaction there. Local journalist Salem Bokari says some people believe the claims, but the vast majority is extremely skeptical. But he says people want a government investigation to find out whether or not they are true. On Friday, before the National Assembly, Mauritania's justice minister formally denied the existence of any secret U.S. prisons in the country. The government has said its relationship with the U.S. military is limited to training and information sharing. Bokari says most Mauritanians hope the relationship stays minimal. Page 1 © 2007 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved. He says Mauritanians do not support the government of President George Bush, because they feel he has not done much for the third world and for Muslims around the world. But Mauritania has historically had a very close relationship with the United States, says David Hartwell, an editor at Jane's Country Risk magazine. "They have had a very good relationship certainly since the September 11th attacks, but even before that when Maaouya Ould Taya was in power. He set out on a very pro-Western course, flying in the face, perhaps, of other Arab countries," said Hartwell. Mauritania, situated where the Sahel meets the Sahara desert, is populated both by Arabs and black Africans. Authoritarian former president Maaouya Ould Taya ruled Mauritania for two decades before a military junta overthrew him in 2005. Civilian rule was reinstated this year, after elections widely hailed by the international community. The new government is expected to re-evaluate foreign relations but not to make drastic changes. Hartwell says Mauritania is only one of several countries that non-governmental organizations and journalists have accused of allowing secret CIA interrogations. They allege the United States operates prisons in countries whose policies on prisoner interrogation and human rights are more lax. Hartwell says Mauritania could be a possible location for such a prison. "I think certainly up until the reinstitution of civilian government, there were certain shadowy aspects to Mauritania. It is a country where not a lot of people know what goes on, frankly. It is far enough below the radar of a lot of countries, so from that perspective Mauritania does present itself as an attractive location for this type of facility," said Hartwell. But he says other countries in the region have traditionally worked more directly with the United States and would be more likely locations for such prisons. Document VOA0000020070709e3790003d Page 2 © 2007 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved. Mauritanian bill to eradicate slavery 'inadequate': NGO HOS 336 words 8 July 2007 17:54 Agence France Presse English Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007 All reproduction and presentation rights reserved. NOUAKCHOTT, July 8, 2007 (AFP) - A law proposed by the Mauritanian government that would make slavery punishable by up to 10 years behind bars is "inadequate", a leading anti-slavery group here said Sunday. "We are satisfied with ... the will of the current authorities to abolish slavery but we think the proposed text is inadequate," said Boubacar Messaoud, the head of the non-governmental organisation SOS Slavery. "The law proposal does not give a very clear definition of slavery as it is practiced here," he said, adding that it also recommends penalties that "fall short of those for similar crimes, such as in cases of crimes against humanity." SOS Slavery has, in cooperation with other human rights groups, suggested amending the current bill to increase the maximum penalty for slavery from the proposed 10 years to 30 years in prison. The groups have also called on the government to, in parallel with the new law, launch "a true policy for eradicating slavery," as well as a national agency aimed at fighting the practice. Messaoud said he planned to present these proposals to parliament "very soon". Slavery has existed in Mauritania for centuries, and slaves, traditionally domestic, are drawn both from the black African and Arab populations. Page 3 © 2007 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved. The West African country officially did away with the practice in 1981, but it persists amid entrenched opinions and caste systems, unenthusiastic about change. Legislation passed in 2003 strengthened the ban by making "trafficking in people" illegal. "Trafficking" was reclassified as a crime from being a simple misdemeanour. The 2003 law said the agreement of the slave did not make the practice admissible but fudged the word "slavery". Mauritanian Prime Minister Zeine Ould Zeidane presented the new law proposal on June 25, saying the 1981 law "did not explicitly qualify the phenomenon, nor its incrimination or repression." Mauritania's new president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, elected in March, had pledged to "permanently" eradicate slavery within six months. hos/frt/ach-nl/shn Document AFPR000020070708e378006y6 Page 4 © 2007 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved. Justice and defence ministers say no US secret prisons in Mauritania 380 words 6 July 2007 12:05 BBC Monitoring Middle East English (c) 2007 The British Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved. No material may be reproduced except with the express permission of The British Broadcasting Corporation. Text of report by Mauritanian independent news agency Al-Akhbar website Nouakchott, 5 July: Ministers of national defence and justice dismissed today news reports which mentioned several weeks ago the presence of US military bases and secret prisons in Mauritania. The ministers denied the news without ruling out the possibility of examining any request regarding military bases if the US Administration made an official request. In response to a question by the MP and head of the parliamentary bloc of the United Forces of Progress, Mustafa Ould Badreddin, before the Mauritanian parliament, Minister of Justice Limam Ould Teguedi said: "We are not aware of the license or the presence of these prisons. Being the representative of the Mauritanian government and in charge of human rights, I can not accept the secret or public presence of national or foreign prisons which do not respect the standards of human rights." Several MPs expressed their fears over the ambiguity of the minister's response and they requested the formation of a parliamentary committee to investigate the issue. Other MPs called for taking a legal action against the US journalist [Seymour Hersh who published the report] and asking the US Administration for an apology. Meanwhile, the minister of justice pledged to take the necessary measures to defend the country's reputation. MP and head of Reform and Change bloc [as transliterated], Mohamed Jamil Ould Mansour, asked a question about the published report on the US military base and the visa waiver to US [military] officers to Minister of National Defence Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed who said: "I assure you the Mauritanian government which was formed after the latest elections did not receive any request in this Page 5 © 2007 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved. regard." He also said cooperation with the USA was through public channels and that it was confined to training, education and exchange of expertise. This caused the indignation of the MPs who asked for clearer answer to assure the public opinion. News reports published recently aroused public fears of the presence of US military bases or secret prisons in Mauritania, where the dignity of detainees by US forces would be violated on the Mauritanian soil. Source: Al-Akhbar website, in Arabic 1330 gmt 5 Jul 07 a692d65f Document BBCMEP0020070706e37600105 Page 6 © 2007 Factiva, Inc. All rights reserved. Mauritanian president speaks of "serious violations" of human rights in 1980s 254 words 30 June 2007 14:56 BBC Monitoring Middle East English (c) 2007 The British Broadcasting Corporation. All Rights Reserved. No material may be reproduced except with the express permission of The British Broadcasting Corporation. Text of report by Qatari Al-Jazeera satellite TV on 29 June [Presenter] In the first address he delivered after taking office, Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi has spoken bitterly of what he called large-scale human rights violations committed in Mauritania in 1989, 1990 and 1991. Ould Cheikh Abdellahi vowed to work to ensure that any such violations, which were committed against Mauritanians at home and abroad, would not be repeated. [Abdellahi] During the 1980s, the country witnessed large-scale violations of human rights. During 1989, 1990 and 1991, Mauritanians at home and abroad and residents in Mauritania faced serious violations that had no justification whatsoever. Peaceful Mauritanian citizens were forced to leave their country, honours were violated and rights were widely wasted. [Presenter] Mauritanian President Ould Cheikh Abdellahi committed himself to [helping with] the return of all Mauritanian black refugees to the country and to apply a programme for reintegrating them in their original areas in coordination with the [UN] High Commission for Refugees. [Abdellahi] We will welcome the contribution of the national solidarity efforts and our partners in development, in addition to the state's self resources.