50 000 refugees in Mauritania

The UN High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has registered more than 50 000 refugees and asylum seekers in Mauritania, the UN agency said.

The statement said more than 90 percent of those registered were Malians who had fled hostility that began in 2012 in the northern part of their country. “About 1 500 refugees and asylum seekers are mainly from Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic and Syria,” the statement said.