Mauritania and Algeria are hopeful that a border post currently designated as a military zone will be opened to ease the transit of people and goods between the two nations.
For years, the borders between Mauritania, Algeria and Mali have become a no man’s land of lawlessness in which a multitude of activities related to cross-border crimes including weapons, drugs, cigarettes, migrants and terror activities have become common place.
Mauritanian Minister of Culture and Government spokesman Mohamed Lemine Ould Cheikh outlined that the new crossing point will be secured and managed in a regulatory manner.
The decision of a new border post, which would be the first since the two countries’ independence, is something the Algerian government has been keen on, raising the issue in December 2016 on the eve of the return of Morocco to the African Union.
The construction of the crossing will not however be a walk in the park since the nearest cities on either side, Tindouf in Algeria and Zouerate in Mauritania are more than 700 kilometres away meaning they require a new route to be created as well as employing high levels of civil and military deployments to man the crossing since the route is popular with traffickers.
Trade between Mauritania and Algeria by land is currently very low which is the exact opposite to the Mauritanian-Moroccan border which has become a passage for Mauritania’s trade in food supplies, textiles and electrical equipment. Tourists wishing to visit Mauritania via Morocco also use the route with 40,000 tourists registered annually at the border crossing.
