Rabat – Around 44 Mauritanian lawyers are concluding their visit to Dakhla for a training seminar, which ran from May 19 to 27.
The seminar is focused on preventing the exploitation of children in conflict zones, and is organized in Dakhla’s International Research Center for the Prevention of Child Soldiers.
The delegation, headed by Mauritania’s President of the National Bar Association Brahim Ould Ebety, received criticism from some political factions in Mauritania. These groups, known for their support for Polisario separatists, criticized the group of lawyers for crossing the Guerguerat border while waving Moroccan flags.
Mauritania’s Union of the Forces of Progress accused the delegation of lawyers of “interfering in complicated regional affairs.” The group responded by saying that they are an independent delegation of lawyers who are visiting for the purposes of training and cooperation.
“Our actions and stances stem from a strictly professional place, and everyone should refrain from accusing the delegation of imagined political stances,” the delegation explained in a release to Mauritanian media.
Another union of lawyers allegedly belonging to the Polisario also sent a press release to Mauritanian media, saying the visit qualified as “a violation of international law,” due to the delegation’s entrance to the Sahara region while waving Moroccan flags.
Algerian media was similarly rattled by the visit, with some calling Nouakchott “the Makhzen’s fifth column” over the visit, claiming that it undermines Mauritania’s sovereignty.
The delegation was welcomed by a Moroccan group at the Guerguerat border crossing before going on a tour that included Agadir, Guelmim, and Laayoune.
The Polisario and Algeria have been losing diplomatic ground in regard to the international consensus on the Sahara dispute, as over the last few years several international players have come out in support of Morocco’s territorial integrity and its Autonomy Plan.
