Algeria, mauritanian president's bodyguard dies in Tindouf

According to Mauritanian sources, the accident resulted in the death of assistant Mohammed Ould Chibani, one of the Mauritanian president's bodyguards, and the injury of one other person.

The latter was taken to hospital in Tindouf, where he received first aid before being repatriated in the evening, along with the body of the deceased, by a Mauritanian army plane. Upon his arrival in Nouakchott, a religious ceremony was organized in the presence of the Minister of National Defense.

The incomprehensible silence of the Algerian authorities and their media on this accident has opened the door to all kinds of speculation. Some Moroccan electronic news sites went so far as to evoke the most far-fetched theories, such as that of an assassination attempt on the Mauritanian president by the Algerian secret services.

Others have tended towards a terrorist attack, which would have corroborated the fears of the American ambassador in Algiers.

However, at the time of writing, there has been no official announcement from either Algeria or Mauritania as to the circumstances of this accident. The image of the wrecked vehicle shows just how violent the blow was. However, we have no idea what it hit. 

On the official front, after inaugurating the border post separating the two countries, launching the construction of the 840 km road linking Tindouf in Algeria to Zouerate in Mauritania, and laying the foundation stone for the Algerian-Mauritanian free trade zone, the two presidents parted company at the end of the afternoon.

After accompanying his host to the airport to return to Nouakchott, President Tebboune flew back to Algiers, arriving in the evening.