Popular regret in Mauritania for normalizing relations with Israel

Amid strong regret expressed by the majority of the people of Mauritania towards normalizing relations with Israel, well-informed sources in the Mauritanian capital stressed on Tuesday that Mauritanian Minister of Agriculture Muhammad Ould Sedi Ahmad Lakhal will on Thursday conduct a visit to Israel, during which he will sign with several Israeli officials a series of agreements between the two sides.

The Mauritanian people have expressed their regret over the visits carried out recently by Israeli medical teams to Mauritania at a time when Mauritania journalists are refusing to visit Israel.

The visit held by Mauritania's prime minister, Muhammad al-Khouna, to Israel in November 1998 was behind unmasking the case of dumping poisonous waste in Mauritania. According to accusations, at that time, the Mauritanian opposition stressed that Mauritanian officials agreed to receive the poisonous wastes from and dump them in the Mauritania territories.