Mauritania: Islamist Party Calls for Peaceful Struggle Against Regime

Men run from tear gas during a protest in Nouakchott, Mauritania (Reuters)
Men run from tear gas during a protest in Nouakchott, Mauritania (Reuters)
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Mauritania: Islamist Party Calls for Peaceful Struggle Against Regime

Men run from tear gas during a protest in Nouakchott, Mauritania (Reuters)
Men run from tear gas during a protest in Nouakchott, Mauritania (Reuters)

The Islamist National Rally for Reform and Development (Tawasul) called for pursuing a peaceful struggle to hold the regime responsible for the challenging situation the country is going through.

In statements received by the German Press Agency, the party said that after an emergency meeting of its executive office, it decided to adopt a peaceful program and call for a comprehensive dialogue.

It renewed its call for a comprehensive national dialogue that leads to a transformation that lays solid foundations for resolving the country's core problems.

Tawasul is the largest opposition party in the Mauritanian parliament. It granted the regime of President Mohamed Ould Cheikh el-Ghazouani, who took power in August 2019, a deadline to normalize the political atmosphere.

The party's position comes while growing public discontent over the country’s lack of security, which led to the death of dozens of innocent citizens killed by gangs in Nouakchott.

After series of incidents, the president toured a number of the capital's neighborhoods, during which he visited security units.

Meanwhile, four opposition parties called on the government to put an end to the chaos and ensure the security and safety of citizens, in light of the unprecedented wave of disorder in the capital.

The opposition parties Ettakatol, the Union of Progress Forces, Sawab, and Democratic Forces signed a statement, warning that the current lack of security in the country undermines the prestige of the state and threatens a real catastrophe that may affect the citizens' lives.

They stated that this may constitute a serious threat to civil harmony and social peace, especially in poor and remote neighborhoods, without security or safety.

The parties expressed their strong dissatisfaction with the authorities’ indifference in the face of the seriousness of the drug scourge, noting that an increasing number of children and youth are turning to drugs and criminality.

During the past weeks, several citizens were stabbed to death by organized crime gangs under the influence of drugs.



ICC Prosecutor Sees 'No Real Effort' by Israel to Probe Gaza War Crimes

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan attends an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan attends an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
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ICC Prosecutor Sees 'No Real Effort' by Israel to Probe Gaza War Crimes

International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan attends an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw
International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor Karim Khan attends an interview with Reuters in The Hague, Netherlands January 16, 2025. REUTERS/Piroschka van de Wouw

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan has defended his decision to bring war crimes allegations against Israel's prime minister, saying Israel had made "no real effort" to investigate the allegations itself.

In an interview with Reuters, he stood by his decision over the arrest warrant despite a vote last week by the US House of Representatives to sanction the ICC in protest, a move he described as "unwanted and unwelcome.”

ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defense chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict.

The Israeli prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Khan's remarks to Reuters.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes. The United States, Israel's main ally, is also not a member of the ICC and Washington has criticized the arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant.

"We're here as a court of last resort and ...as we speak right now, we haven't seen any real effort by the State of Israel to take action that would meet the established jurisprudence, which is investigations regarding the same suspects for the same conduct," Khan told Reuters.

"That can change and I hope it does," he said in Thursday's interview, a day after Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas reached a deal for a ceasefire in Gaza.

An Israeli investigation could have led to the case being handed back to Israeli courts under so-called complementary principles. Israel can still demonstrate its willingness to investigate, even after warrants were issued, he said.

The ICC, with 125 member states, is the world's permanent court to prosecute individuals for alleged war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and aggression.

Khan said that Israel had very good legal expertise.

But he said "the question is have those judges, have those prosecutors, have those legal instruments been used to properly scrutinize the allegations that we've seen in the occupied Palestinian territories, in the State of Palestine? And I think the answer to that was 'no'."

Passage of the "Illegitimate Court Counteraction Act" by the US House of Representatives on Jan. 9 underscored strong support for Israel's government among President-elect Donald Trump's fellow Republicans.

The ICC said it noted the bill with concern and warned it could rob victims of atrocities of justice and hope.

Trump's first administration imposed sanctions on the ICC in 2020 over investigations into war crimes in Afghanistan, including allegations of torture by US citizens. Those sanctions were lifted during Joe Biden's presidency.

Five years ago, then-ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda and other staff had credit cards and bank accounts frozen and US travel impeded. Any further US sanctions under Trump would be widely expected to be more severe and widespread.

The ICC, created in 1998, was intended to assume the work of temporary tribunals that have conducted war crimes trials based on legal principles established during the Nuremberg trials against the Nazis after World War Two.

"It is of course unwanted and unwelcome that an institution that is a child of Nuremberg ...is threatened with sanctions. It should make people take note because this court is not owned by the prosecutor or by judges. We have 125 states," Khan said.

It "is a matter that should make all people of conscience be concerned," he said, declining to discuss further what sanctions could mean for the court.