This is also the region where the continent’s other biggest problems are concentrated: poor governance, climate change, foreign influence and rapid population growth - all of which have paved the way for the jihadists. But whereas neighboring countries have sunk into chaos and the toppling of governments has become so common that the region has come to be called the Coup Belt, Mauritania is mostly peaceful and safe.
Mauritania, with a population of 5 million, was the first country in the Sahel targeted by attacks from jihadists. The Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat, a precursor of al-Qaida in the Islamic Maghreb, accused the Mauritanian government of being too close to the U.S. government and was outraged by the country’s establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel in 1999.
When the Mauritanian government arrested leading Islamists, the extremists took up weapons for the first time on June 4, 2005, killing 15 soldiers. Later, the wave of terror expanded to Mali and Niger, and then to Burkina Faso, Niger and Chad.Méharistes is the name of the National Guard that patrols the desert on the border to Mali on camelback. It has about 300 members.
They are the medical resources in their area. But they are also police officers, counselors, intelligence agents and intermediaries between the people here and the politicians and officials in the cities. They are the state, bringing the rudimentary services of the government on camelback to the most remote villages – places that no cars can reach and where cellphone service is nonexistent.
