35 Mauritanians Return Home After Detention in Mali

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — Thirty-five Mauritanian nationals have returned home after being detained in Mali for almost three weeks, in a development that has placed Mauritania-Mali relations under renewed pressure.

Mauritania’s government said the citizens returned on Wednesday aboard a Mauritania Airlines flight to Néma in southeastern Mauritania. The group had been detained in Mali on suspicion of links to terrorism, allegations that Mauritanian authorities rejected.

Government spokesman Houssein Ould Medou said some of the Mauritanians had allegedly been mistreated and tortured while in detention. Malian authorities released the detainees following diplomatic intervention by the Mauritanian embassy in Bamako.

The incident comes amid heightened security concerns along the Mauritania-Mali border, where instability and armed-group activity have increased scrutiny of cross-border movements.

The return of the citizens could help ease the immediate dispute, but the allegations are likely to keep border security, treatment of Mauritanian nationals and bilateral cooperation firmly on the regional agenda.