Hunting the terrorists

After three weeks on the run, two of the suspects were stopped in Guinea-Bissau, just south of Senegal, with the help of the DGSE, the French foreign intelligence agency.

The two men claimed to be members of al Qaeda in North Africa, part of the old GSPC (Salafist Group for Preaching and Combat). All of the country’s forces were mobilised to track the Islamists.

The manhunt intensified when Sidi Sidna, one of the suspects behind bars, escaped from the Nouakchott Courthouse in April.

With public enemy number one on the loose, the authorities mobilised the population. Posters on the streets offered 13,000 euros for information about the fugitive.

But between the snags and the poorly equipped officials, the tracking proved to be difficult in a country twice the size of France. 

 
Recruitment

Sidi Sidna grew up in the poor districts of Nouakchott, and became familiar with the Salafist idea when he enrolled in a Koran school in 2004. He went to Mali in 2006 to further his education, before returning to his school with the mission of recruiting students.

 
In a testimony recorded at the time of his arrest, and obtained by FRANCE 24, he declared: “Our objective was Americans. Our objective eventually became the French after the declarations of Sarkozy where he affirmed his support for the American war against al Qaeda.”

The second suspect, Mohammed Chabarnou, is also from a working-class neighbourhood in the Mauritanian capital. “I confirm that I am the only one to have killed the four tourists and wounded a fifth,” he said in a testimony.

His family refuses to accept his confession. His mother describes her son as a pacifist, “When I tell him to kill a salamander or something, he told me, no mother, I cannot kill.”

His aunt also rejects Mohammed’s involvement. “No one knows the friends of Mohammed or has seen them in this neighborhood. Everyone can testify to that. For me it means that an error has been made.”

The arrests continue to occur daily and the manhunt continues. Following these events, Mauritania has woken up to the reality of terrorism. Yet, the country is determined to reestablish its image as a peaceful Muslim nation founded on its historic practice of a peaceful Islam.