US Peace Corps pulls more than 100 American volunteers out of Mauritania for security reasons
By APMonday, August 17, 2009
US Peace Corps pulls out Mauritania volunteers
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — The U.S. Peace Corps says it has pulled more than 100 American volunteers out of Mauritania for security reasons.
The U.S. government volunteer program announced late Sunday in Nouakchott that its volunteers have left for neighboring Senegal and will not return to Mauritania.
Extremist violence in Mauritania, a moderate Muslim nation in West Africa, has increased in recent years.
Earlier this month, a suicide bomber wounded three people in an attack outside the French embassy. Three men face murder charges over the June slaying of an American teacher. Al-Qaida claimed responsibility for the killing.
The Peace Corps has programs in more than 20 African countries. The organization started its Mauritania program in 1967.
