France denies Mauritanian Chairman's visa

Sources in Nouakchott revealed on Thursday that the French Embassy in the Mauritanian capital refused a visa for the Chairman of the Parliament and Head of the Popular Progressive Alliance Party, Massoud Ould Belkhair. The French Embassy set the condition that Massoud should personally visit the embassy in order to obtain the visa, which the source considered as undermining one of the most prominent Mauritanian figures. Belkhair, however, refused to present himself to the French Embassy in order to take his fingerprints before issuing the visa, in response to the attitude of the embassy. Sources inside the party headed by Ould Belkhair said the procedure of the French Embassy is provocative and shows disrespect. Ould Belkhair requested the visa in order to visit President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz who is being treated in a French hospital after being mistakingly shot by a Mauritanian soldier, according to the official report of the government. According to observers, the main reason for this “brusqueness” between the Parliament’s Chairman and the French Embassy was based on Ould BelKhair’s statement (during a press conference held in Nouakchott) criticising the response of the French Ambassador to an initiative launched between the political fronts and the diplomatic delegations to solve the crisis in Mauritania. In the conference, Ould BelKhair said he would not have future relations with them.