Morocco, Mauritania keen to strengthen security cooperation

Morocco and Mauritania are looking to boost bilateral security cooperation following a meeting between the security chiefs of both countries in Rabat on Tuesday.

The Director General of Mauritania’s National Security, Meshgharou Ould Sidi Leghweizi, met with his Moroccan counterpart, Abdellatif Hammouchi, at the headquarters of the General Directorates of National Security and Territorial Surveillance (DGSN-DGST) to discuss ways of enhancing security ties and countering common regional security threats. It was the second meeting between the security chiefs in two years.

“The two parties also discussed the importance of strengthening cooperation in the field of police training,” a statement by the DGSN said, emphasising that both countries anticipate further collaboration and exchange in the security field.

In May officials from both countries discussed deepening military cooperation between the two armed forces.

The growing relations between Rabat and Nouakchott come amid tensions between Morocco and Algeria over the former’s re-established ties with Israel and the latter’s continued support of the Polisario Front, an independence movement disputing Morocco’s territorial claims over the Western Sahara. Mauritania initially claimed sovereignty over the territory but renounced its claims following an Algerian-brokered agreement in 1979.

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