An Algerian court Nov. 29 sentenced in absentia Guantánamo Bay detainee Ahmed Belbacha to 20 years in prison for being part of an "overseas terrorist group." Belbacha has been cleared for release from Guantánamo but says he does not want to return to his home country of Algeria for fear of torture and has requested asylum in the US. Belbacha has been held in Guantánamo since 2002 after he was captured in Pakistan. Human Rights Watch reported that he tried to commit suicide at Guantánamo but would rather stay there than return to Algeria. HRW said that there are approximately 60 detainees who face a credible threat of torture or persecution if they return to their home country. (Jurist, Nov. 30)

An Algerian criminal court acquitted former Guantánamo Bay detainees Abdulli Feghoul and Terari Mohamed on Nov. 22, according to the Algérie Presse Service. Feghoul and Mohamed were repatriated to Algeria in August 2008 after being held at the Guantanamo Bay detention facility for seven years. The Algerian state prosecutor had sought a 20-year sentence against Feghoul and Mohamed for allegedly belonging to a foreign terrorist group. Defense lawyer Farid Abbache stated that while the former detainees admitted to involvement in theft and drug trafficking, they denied any connection with terrorist groups.

Hundreds of protesters hurled stones and petrol bombs at police, who responded with tear gas and armored cars, in Algiers on Both Oct. 19 and 20. One officer was seriously injured. The clashes broke out on when residents of a shantytown in the Diar Echams district of the city protested that they had not been included on a list of people who qualified for new housing. (Reuters, Oct. 20) The clashes came as US Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Africa Vicki Huddleston arrived in Algiers for talks on closer counter-terrorism ties with the regime. At a press conference, she hailed the "good co-operation" between Algiers and Washington on regional security concerns. (Magharebia, Oct. 21)

Dissident rebel factions in Niger are refusing to honor a peace deal brokered between the government and Tuareg guerillas by Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi. The Movement of Nigeriens for Justice (MNJ) issued a statement saying "What has just taken place in Libya is a gigantic farce." The Front of Forces for Rectification (FFR) said it would "pursue the political and armed struggle until democratic order and justice are restored."

The issue of Western Sahara, Africa’s last colony, was discussed in depth at the UN's Decolonization Committee meeting in New York this week. The Committee heard testimony on political, human rights and humanitarian aspects of the situation in the territory which has been illegally occupied by Morocco for over three decades. Some 84 petitioners called on the Committee to find a solution to the conflict.

Constitutional rule has been restored in Mauritania, according to an evaluation team sent by the European Union, which imposed sanctions after the August 2008 military coup. "The return to constitutional order during a consensual process of ending a crisis has formally been achieved," EU delegation member Filiberto Sebregondi told a press conference Oct. 7. Coup leader Gen. Ould Abdel Aziz was elected president in a July poll contested by the opposition as a "massive fraud."

Mauritania registered its first suicide bombing Aug. 8 when an attacker blew himself up outside the French Embassy in the capital Nouakchott, injuring two security guards. The official Agence Nouakchott d'Information reported that the bomber was a Mauritanian. The country has seen growing attacks by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) in recent months. Three Mauritanians were charged last week with murder in the presumed AQIM slaying of US national Christopher Legget. One was wearing an explosives belt that did not detonate when he was arrested in July. (NYT, Aug. 8)

Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who overthrew an elected government in Mauritania nearly a year ago, has himself claimed victory in the new election held July 18—but four opposing candidates rejected the result. By Interior Ministry figures, Abdel Aziz won the election by 52.6%, or 409,100 votes. Rival candidates Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, Ahmed Ould Daddah, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall and Hamady Ould Meimou rejected the results in a joint declaration at a press conference as the results were announced the day after the vote.