US infantry forces in southern Mauritania

Informed  sources told Arabstoday on Sunday that 60 US infantry troops are present in South Mauritania. The soldiers, reportedly from the US navy, have established a command base with communications facilities as a centre for the leadership of Africom on Mauritanian territory. There is also a French camp in the north said to be training the Mauritanian Air Force. Observers believe that although Mauritania is willing to intervene in northern Mali, it is feared that the US may set up a permanent military base there so that that the US Navy could intensify its patrols off the Mauritanian coasts, after it established a military base in Atar city on the Mauritanian coast a few months ago. Media sources said that Mauritania had agreed to a US base in its territory to be a refueling for enable US forces to intervene effectively in its war on militants and jihadist groups, especially after the conflict in northern Mali. The US deployed 200 soldiers in 2008 in northern Mauritania, especially Atar, before leaving the city and after the coup carried out by current President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, against the first civilian president of Mauritania Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.