Security - Nouakchott, Bamako hail French-African intervention in Mali. The Mauritanian and Malian presidents have hailed the intervention of the French-African troops to restore Mali's sovereignty and territorial integrity, threatened by small terrorist groups who seized the north of the country.
This was contained in a joint statement issued at the end of the visit of Mali's interim president, Dioncounda Traoré, to Nouakchott.
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and interim president Traoré agreed 'to strengthen cooperation between their armed forces and security services through regular meetings, information sharing and close consultation'.
The two presidents said they would not tolerate the presence of terrorist or armed groups on their territories.
Mauritania, which pulled out of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) in 1999, is not part in the war to liberate northern Mali.
Mauritania, which shares a 2,000-kilometre border with Mali, has thousands of Touareg rebels and leaders from the National Movement for Azawad Liberation (MNLA), one of the groups that seized northern Mali last year.
Pana 12/03/2013