Mauritania: ex-president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz protests being prevented from traveling
Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in Nouakchott on August 1, 2019. AFP - SEYLLOU
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Former Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was prevented from traveling abroad on Wednesday (January 4th).
As he was about to take a flight to Paris, the former president was intercepted at Nouakchott airport by the gendarmerie, who confiscated his passport.
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“
I had planned to travel this evening to Paris, I presented myself normally and I did my formalities
, says former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
.
Everything was going very well until the arrival of the gendarmerie.
The gendarmes asked me for my passport.
I told them that they weren't concerned by that, because they are not the ones who do the formalities.
Once in front of the counter, I presented the passport with the boarding pass, and then they said to me:
"We have received instructions to prevent you from traveling. You cannot leave the country."
I asked them why, do they have any document to justify their decision
?
They told me no, these are the instructions, my passport is confiscated.
»
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is awaiting trial for corruption during his 10 years in power.
The former head of state had been placed under judicial supervision in 2021, then imprisoned, then placed under house arrest for health reasons, and finally released in September, following the
end of his judicial supervision
.
He has
already been to Paris
for two months, last term.
“
I am waiting to be judged
”
He believes that yesterday's events are a political sanction, without legal basis:
“
A measure of the political police of the dictatorship of my country, that's all!
I am neither under judicial control nor under house arrest.
I'm waiting to be judged, so I can't understand.
From the moment I'm at home, I don't know if I'm free because I'm being chased, chased.
And lately, I've moved a lot, I've made a lot of noise, to be at peace with the police, and you mustn't move too much, you mustn't talk too much, you mustn't criticize the system.
Unfortunately, for three years, we have been living with this system, we have been living with this cynical and underhanded dictatorship.
»
►Also read: Guest Africa - Mauritania: "No, I did not betray Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz", says President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani
(Interview dating from 2021)
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Mauritania
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz