Mauritania defends normalization with Israel

Mauritania's foreign minister Muhammad Val Weld Bilal has defended his country's relations with Israel. He said in a press conference in Doha that Nouakchott's relations with Tel Aviv do not contradict with the interests of the Palestinian people.

He described the Libyan step to disclose its special program on producing mass destruction weapons as a positive step. He indicated that the more important step lies in crystallizing the joint efforts which will result in a security and political atmosphere that is conducive to evacuating the Middle east region from all these weapons.

On the postponement of the Maghreb federation summit, which was due to be held on December 24th, the Mauritanian minister played down the Libyan influence on the postponement decision. He stressed that there is strong will in the Maghreb federation states to eliminate all obstacles and difficulties before the march of the federation, through discussing certain pending issues that require more preperations.