Mauritania crackdown: what foreign nationals report about raids and expulsions

Foreign nationals expelled from Mauritania to the Senegalese border town of Rosso have described raids, detention without explanation and days without adequate food or water, according to new field research by the Mixed Migration Centre (MMC). The accounts raise questions for anyone staying in Mauritania about how migration rules are being enforced on the ground.

Key facts

• An MMC project coordinator for West Africa visited Rosso for one week in August 2026.
• Three group returns crossed the official border that week; the largest involved about 100 people.
• People interviewed said they were held in cells and given one meal a day until around 40 or more people were ready to be transported to Senegal.
• Those affected included nationals of Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Togo.
• The visit also supported the launch of MMC's 4Mi data collection in the area.

What does the research describe?

Migrants and local organisations told the MMC coordinator about security operations in which officers did not check documents before detaining people. Some said people with regular migration status were also taken. Those interviewed said they were placed in vehicles and driven to detention without being able to explain their situation, and several said they were not allowed to contact relatives.

Some said the raids were taking place in different parts of Mauritania. Many of the people who arrived in Rosso on one day said they had been detained in Nouadhibou, on the Atlantic coast, after their boat toward the Canary Islands broke down.

The phrase migrants repeated most often, according to the coordinator, was: "They treat us as if we are not human beings."

Who appears to be affected?

Many of those interviewed said Black foreign nationals appeared to be disproportionately targeted, including people from Burkina Faso, Mali, Guinea and Côte d'Ivoire. "Once you are Black, there is a problem," several people said.

A Togolese woman told the MMC that she had spent about 500,000 CFA francs, approximately $850, to obtain her documents. She said she had the documents with her, but that no one checked them before she was expelled.

What happens to identity documents?

Others said their documents were torn up during raids. Without identity documents, the research notes, people may struggle to prove their nationality, obtain consular assistance or access voluntary return programmes.

The MMC said it could not independently verify every individual account, but that the consistency of the descriptions points to a broader pattern reported by people arriving in Rosso.

What this means for travellers

The accounts concern people expelled from Mauritania to Rosso, and the research does not describe entry rules for visitors. Still, foreign nationals in Mauritania should be aware that raids and document checks have been reported, and that some people said their status was not verified before they were detained.

The MMC's field visit also backed the start of its 4Mi data collection in the Rosso area. No further dates or official response from Mauritanian authorities are given in the research summary.