Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz will pay a one-day “friendly and business” visit to Syria late next week to hold talks with the head of the regime, Bashar Assad, sources in Nouakchott said Thursday.
The Mauritanian government has stayed mum on the visit, which is also expected to include extensive meetings between officials from the two countries.
Ould Abdel Aziz is expected to return from his private visit to a remote area northeast of Mauritania next week, when the government resumes its meetings.
Sources, including officials close to the Mauritanian presidency, asserted that Ould Abdel Aziz will launch an Arab tour at the end of next week, specifically on January 10, which will take him to the United Arab Emirates, Syria and Lebanon.
In the UAE, the President is expected to attend the Abu Dhabi Sustainability Week, which will be held under the patronage of Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces, starting Jan. 12.
He will then travel to Syria for a one-day visit before heading to Beirut, where he will attend the two-day Arab Economic and Social Development Summit on Jan.19.
Sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that Mauritania has coordinated with its allies in the region ahead of Ould Abdel Aziz’s decision to visit to Syria.
Last December, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir became the first Arab League leader to visit Damascus.
In response to the regime’s crackdown on peaceful protests, the 22-member Arab League suspended in 2011 the membership of Syria in a vote supported by 18 countries and opposed by Syria, Lebanon and Yemen. Iraq opted to abstain from voting.
Assad had invited the Mauritanian President to visit Syria in February 2012, in a letter delivered by Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad to Ould Abdel Aziz.
