Mauritania: Number of refugees fleeing Sahel has reached “a critical threshold”

Refugees escaping Sahel insecurity for Mauritania has hit “a critical threshold”, boosting illegal migration to Spain and the rest of Europe, Mauritania’s defense minister Hanena Ould Sidi said Monday, according to AFP. A recent UNHCR reports says over 275,000 refugees and asylum seekers are now in Mauritania, a nation of 4.9 million. They are mainly concentrated in the southeast near the border with Mali, with 112,000 the crowded Mbera camp. Saidi said most were fleeing hunger and violence in Mali.

Mauritania in on a maritime route used by tens of thousands of Africans attempting to reach Europe. Mauritania, which has maintained greater stability than some neighboring nations, aims to strengthen cooperation with Spain and the EU to manage these migration flows. In August, a visit by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez to Nouakchott saw Spain and Mauritania jointly pledge to tackle people smuggling and promote legal migration.