On patrol for jihadists with a camel cavalry

A POSSE of turban-clad soldiers perched on “ships of the desert” may conjure images of the past but Mauritania’s camelback cavalry plays a vital role in the fight against jihadism today.

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They are the Meharists, heirs to the camel-riding army units founded when imperialist France ruled the West African nation, whom AFP accompanied on patrol for two days.

Kalashnikovs lay slung over the soldiers’ shoulders, while a brand new drone sliced through the burning Saharan air in the southeast of the country.

To the east over a porous and at points ill-defined 2200km border lies Mali, which along with its Sahel neighbours Burkina Faso and Niger is riven by violence from jihadist groups.

To tame the immense, mainly desert territory, Mauritania has turned to the dromedary camel, a handy navigator of sandy terrain that would defeat off-road vehicles.

“The nomadic group can be deployed in remote or hard-to-reach areas to ensure the state has a presence there,” said National Guard unit commander Colonel Moulaye al-Bashir.

The strategy seems to be bearing some fruit. Mauritania has not suffered a jihadist attack since 2011.

Until a few years ago, the desert riders’ unit was in decline, numbering barely 50 men. But since 2019, it has enjoyed a renaissance, and today the “Nomad Group” boasts around 150 riders as well as a herd of 400 camels.

The Meharists have been buoyed by a grant of several million euros from the European Union - which has an interest in maintaining Mauritania’s stability in an otherwise unstable region, one European diplomat said.