Preparing for mass repatriation from Mauritania

Senegal has activated plans for the repatriation of its nationals from Mauritania, whose police on Monday gave Senegalese 15 days to leave the country, officials in Dakar told IRIN. "We are forming a team to go to Mauritania, possibly today, to find out how many need evacuating," Souleyman Thiam, head of the Foreign Ministry's Office of Senegalese Overseas, said on Thursday. He said Senegal would use air and other means to repatriate its nationals, and that a welcoming committee has been established to ease the burden on the returnees who will be given financial assistance to settle. "However, given the large number we will need international aid," Thiam said. Between 60,000 and 100,000 Senegalese lived in Mauritania before police ordered them to leave. By Wednesday evening, some 2,500 Mauritania-based Senegalese living near the River Senegal had fled across the border river to the town of Rosso Senegal, the privately owned 'Sud Quotidien' newspaper in Dakar reported on Thursday. [See item titled 'SENEGAL: IRIN Focus on renewed tension with Mauritania']