Mauritania: Islamist ban could backfire

According to The Arab Weekly reporting on 30 September 2018, President Mohammad Ould Abdul Aziz has ordered an Islamic university and an Islamic training center linked to the Muslim Brotherhood to be shut down, claiming that "proponents of political Islam are all extremists. - They take up weapons when they fail to achieve their objectives and goals by political ways." Yonas Dembele, persecution analyst at World Watch Research, comments: "The presidential election is less than a year away and this move by President Aziz is clearly aiming to stem the growth in popularity of the Tewassoul movement - an Islamist reform party affiliated to the Muslim Brotherhood and the main opposition to the president"s Union for the Republic party. The growing appeal of Islamist teachings in the West African country is of international concern, especially since al-Qaeda in Maghreb (AQIM) is a major influence both in Mauritania and the surrounding region. In recent times, the Mauritanian army has launched offensives against al-Qaeda affiliates across the border in Mali as a part of wider operations against Islamic militants carried out in conjunction with other Sahel states. This new move by the Mauritanian president will surely further offend radical elements and could well trigger attacks against Christians in the country and the region."