Mauritanian group in air crashes protest

Members of Mauritanian youth opposition group Mechaal held a demonstration outside the headquarters of the country's defence ministry in Nouakchott on Wednesday, to protest against the recent surge in military air force crashes. Several young air force personnel have been killed in Mauritania over the last few months in accidents which authorities have put down to technical failures. Demonstrators in the Mauritanian capital condemned senior military officials for allowing young men to fly in old aircraft, and called on the government to put senior officers on trial. Head of Mechaal, Sheikh Sayed Ahmed Ould Haida said that his group would intensify protests unless the government took action. Haida claimed that the military accidents are part of the Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz's "programme of total corruption."