The website of the World Assembly of Muslim Youth has announced that WAMY leader Dr. Ahmed Saleh met with the Mauritanian Ambassador in Riyadh. According to the report, Saleh met with Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Abdallah Bin-Paix and discussed various WAMY cooperative efforts with volunteer organizations and associations in Mauritania as well as in other states. The report also stated that WAMY is seeking to reopen its office in Mauritania, which was closed in the former Mauritanian government campaign which targeted Islamic associations.
The reference is likely to the rule of former President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya when, according to African media sources, Muslims were forced by the state to adhere to an official government-condoned form of Islam. After a military coup followed by elections in March 2007, the new President has allowed Islamic associations to reform and an Islamist political party, the Rally for National Reform and Development (RNRD), was authorised. However, In December, four French tourists and three Mauritanian soldiers were shot dead by men accused of belonging to the Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb terrorist group and On February 1 , the Israeli embassy was attacked raising questions about the new government policy. WAMY is strongly tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood and the organization is highly active in Africa. U.S. government agencies and officials have argued that WAMY has helped spread Islamic extremism around the world as well as sponsoring terrorism in places such as Bosnia, Israel, and India.
(Note: Foreign language source, machine translated)