After having disappeared from the radar for years, particularly since the overthrow in October 2014 of the former Burkinabe dictator, Blaise Compaoré, of whom he was the “shadow adviser”, the Mauritanian Mustapha Oueld Limam Chaffi resurfaced as Qatar’s secret envoy.
According to our sources, he allegedly intervened, in particular, to have the army of Burkina Faso equipped with military equipment (tanks and armoured vehicles) by Qatar. He would also act as a lobbyist for Doha in Côte d’Ivoire and Rwanda.
It should be recalled that Chaffi became famous as an emissary of AQIM, Al Qaeda’s branch in the Sahel, in Western hostage-taking cases. In December 2011, his home country, Mauritania, issued an international arrest warrant against him and three of his compatriots for “intelligence with terrorist groups and logistical and financial support to terrorist groups operating in the Sahel”.