Baladi News - Journals
Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz will pay a one-day “friendly and business” visit to Syria late next week to hold talks with the head of the regime, Bashar Assad, sources in Nouakchott said Thursday.
The Mauritanian government has stayed mum on the visit, which is also expected to include extensive meetings between officials from the two countries.
Ould Abdel Aziz is expected to return from his private visit to a remote area northeast of Mauritania next week, when the government resumes its meetings.
Asharq Al-Awsat said that Mauritania has coordinated with its allies in the region ahead of Ould Abdel Aziz’s decision to visit to Syria, according to reliable sources.
Last December, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab League leader to visit Damascus.
In response to the regime’s crackdown on peaceful protests, the 22-member Arab League suspended in 2011 the membership of Syria in a vote supported by 18 countries and opposed by Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Iraq opted to abstain from voting.
Assad had invited the Mauritanian President to visit Syria in February 2012, in a letter delivered by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to Ould Abdel Aziz.
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat.