Spanish vessels operate normally in Mauritania despite military coup

SPAIN
Friday, August 08, 2008, 03:10 (GMT + 9)

Spanish shipowners operating in Mauritanian waters claim to be at ease and in touch with the Central Government and the Fisheries and Maritime Affairs Council of the Xunta of Galicia following a recent military coup in Mauritania. Military authorities from Mauritania – a highly important nation for the Spanish in terms of fisheries, are currently holding the nation’s new president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, and Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed, hostage. Although some 60 Spanish vessels hold licences to fish in Mauritanian waters, at this moment only about 30 fishing vessels, mostly from Galicia, are actually operating there, said president of the Spanish Association of Licensed Seamen (AETINAPE), Jose Manuel Muñiz, EFE reports. “We will wait and see how things develop," said Andres Guiance, president of the shipowners of Marin, one of the Galician fleet’s ports of origin currently operating in Mauritanian wa... FULL STORY