Nouakchott- Mauritania has started taking measures to suspend Qatari projects, which it described as suspicious, as the country’s Mufti called for solidarity with Saudi Arabia.

Mufti Sheikh Ahmad Ould Habib al-Rahman said that Saudi Arabia is targeted by conspiracies more than any other time, calling for its support as well as rejecting to back countries that seek to damage the kingdom.

The Mufti underscored in his sermon the necessity for countries of the Islamic world to stand by Saudi Arabia. He concluded his sermon by praying for rulers of Saudi Arabia to achieve victory over their enemies.

Mauritanian authorities suspended on Thursday a project funded by Qatar and supervised by a Qatari charity authority thought to have links with intelligence and security parties.

The suspension decision was issued by local authorities in Rosso, south Mauritania, as the city ruler notified the project supervisors that Mauritania “no more wishes to proceed with the project.”

Official sources affirmed that the government has issued a circular on suspending work in all Qatari funded projects, the majority of them of social nature and linked to a specific political party that commits suspicious activities.

Mauritania had on several occasions expressed reservation on activities of some Qatari charity authorities and their suspicious ties with some terrorist groups active in the Sahel, especially al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and Ansar al-Sharia in north Mali.

Mauritania’s decision to cut ties with Qatar, following the path of other Arab and Islamic countries, has spurred a wave of solidarity by the Muslim Brotherhood in Mauritania whose followers attempted to call for popular protests that were not successful.

Also, some Mauritanian figures known for their ties with terrorist groups expressed solidarity with Qatar.