Agreement between Mauritania and Senegal began on Thursday in Nouakchott.   Nouakchott – Mohammad Sharif Abeidy   The second phase of negotiations on the Fisheries agreement between Mauritania and Senegal began on Thursday in Nouakchott, headed by president Maki Sal who is to visit Mauritania in the coming days. The Mauritanian delegation will be headed during the two-day meeting by the advisor to the Minister of Fisheries Cheikh Ould Ahmed while the Senegalese delegation is headed by Director of Fisheries, Thiam Mosa.
This meeting comes in Nouakchott after months of strained relations between the two countries because of the water problem of Mauritania, after the authorities said Senegalese fishermen did not respect the terms of the agreement signed between the two countries but the Mauritanian government granted around 300 fishing licenses for Senegalese fishermen last March that were valid for two months and after that they were expired. There have been efforts to find agreements that lasts for six or nine months depending on what Senegalese officials announced in that period.
Informed sources said that there are 25.000 Senegalese fishermen in Mauritanian territory. They are considered the first beneficiaries from fishing licenses in Mauritanian waters without being followed by the Coast Guard of Mauritania. However, during the last period which coincided with the strained relationship between Mauritania and Senegal before the fall of former President Abdoulaye Wade and the hand over of power to Maki Sal, Mauritanian waters witnessed multiple frictions between fishermen and the Coast Guard leading to the injury of some Senegalese fishermen and arresting large numbers of them because they violated the terms of the agreement which states Senegalese fishermen are obliged to give 25 percent of their product to the capital, Nouakchott which the Mauritanian authorities consider to be a condition breached by the Senegalese.