The Sierra Leone Ambassador to Senegal His Excellency Alhaji Brima Elvis Koroma on Friday December 2nd, 2022 during a courtesy call on the Ambassador of Mauritania to Senegal advocated for Sierra Leoneans based in Mauritania.
Mauritania is one of the countries Ambassador Koroma is accredited to and there are over 2,000 Sierra Leoneans living there.
The advocacy came about after an executive of the Union of Sierra Leoneans from Mauritania on Monday November 28th, 2022 held a meeting in Dakar with H.E Alhaji Brima Elvis Koroma where they explained issues affecting Sierra Leoneans in Mauritania.
Rashid John Kargbo, the Secretary General of the Union highlighted to the Ambassador that they face persistent harassment from the Mauritanian Police over the authenticity of the consular cards issued to them. He said because of that, they were always arrested and detained. He also complained that few weeks ago, the police arrested and detained several Sierra Leonean women selling a local ice cream named ‘babamstic’ on allegations that they were not preparing them properly and have stopped them from selling it.
Rashid also explained that they were always discriminated against whenever they come in conflict with a Mauritanian despite their assimilation, inter-marriages and long stay. Most of the Sierra Leoneans are in Arabic schools seeking education while some are in different walks of life.
Meeting his counterpart on Friday December 2nd, 2022, H.E Alhaji Brima Elvis Koroma drew the existing relationship between Sierra Leone and Mauritania and the inter-marriages that has taken place on both sides.
He highlighted the issues faced by the Sierra Leoneans in Mauritania and called on his counterpart for swift intervention.
In his response, the Mauritania Ambassador to Senegal, H.E Mohamed Yahya Teiss recognized the existing bilateral relationship between the two countries and thanked his counterpart for his efforts in bringing the issues to his attention. He said he was going to swiftly act on them by bringing them to the attention of the relevant authorities in Mauritania. He informed Ambassador Koroma of Mauritania’s re-entrance into ECOWAS paving the way for re-integration within the Ecowas member states.
