محمد ولد عبد العزيز
Prime Minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf visited Damascus in late June bearing a letter of support for al-Assad from his Mauritanian counterpart, President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. The Mauritanian political opposition, the Rally of Democratic Forces, excoriated the government for "supporting dictatorship, repression and peoples' oppression" and sharply condemned the visit.