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.

Just about a year after the last time and two-and-a-half years after the first time, the New York Times for a third time July 10 treats al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM) to some lurid front-page publicity, "Qaeda Branch Steps Up Raids in North Africa." The story alarmingly fails to mention the US military advisors that have been dispatched to the region in supposed response to the AQIM threat, but does say that "Algerian security forces [are] now offering military and intelligence support to poorer neighboring countries like Mali, where the insurgents have sought refuge."

Mauritania's ousted civilian president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, formally resigned as part of a power-sharing deal with the nation's military rulers June 27—ending a stalemate that for weeks jeopardized the return to civil rule. Supporters of Abdallahi and coup leader Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz shouted at each other outside the conference center where the civilian president stepped down, but there was no violence. (VOA, June 27)

Gunmen ambushed and killed 24 Algerian paramilitary police in the country's deadliest insurgent attack in nearly a year, the local newspaper Echorouk reported June 18. The militants attacked the previous evening with roadside bombs and rifles when the police passed in a convoy along a highway about 180 kilometers east of the capital. When they left the scene of the attack they took with them six police off-road vehicles as well as weapons and police uniforms.

Malian security forces clashed with a group of suspected al-Qaeda militants June 17 in the northern Tessalit region, killing several people, a senior military source told Reuters. The armed forces sent out patrols to try to track down the suspected militants around Mali's northern border region with Algeria after the assassination this month of the security chief of the Timbuktu region.

A power-sharing deal between Mauritania's military junta and opposition is being delayed by disagreement over the composition of an interim government. Under the deal, signed June 5 after lengthy talks involving international mediators in Senegal, the transitional Government of National Unity was to ave taken effect on the 13th—with the civilian president toppled in last August's military coup as its head. But Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi must first formally resign as president, and he wants to do so in the office he was driven from by Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Niger's President Mamadou Tandja held peace talks with Tuareg rebel leaders for the first time, meeting for two hours in the northern town of Agadez. President Tandja told reporters he had offered an amnesty if the three rebel groups laid down their weapons. The rebels have not yet reacted to Tandja's offer. However, before the meeting, the rebel Niger Movement for Justice (MNJ) said it wants to see more Tuaregs in the army, increased autonomy and a greater share of revenues from uranium operations in the region.