Mohamed Saleck Ould Mohamed Lemine (born 1963) is a Mauritania

Mauritania

Mauritania is a country in the Maghreb and West Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean in the west, by Western Sahara in the north, by Algeria in the northeast, by Mali in the east and southeast, and by Senegal in the southwest...

n politician and diplomat. A former ambassador to Switzerland

Switzerland

Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....

, Lemine was named on 28 April 2007 to the post of foreign minister

Foreign minister

A Minister of Foreign Affairs, or foreign minister, is a cabinet minister who helps form the foreign policy of a sovereign state. The foreign minister is often regarded as the most senior ministerial position below that of the head of government . It is often granted to the deputy prime minister in...

 in the new government under Prime Minister Zeine Ould Zeidane

Zeine Ould Zeidane

Zeine Ould Zeidane is a Mauritanian economist and politician. He placed third as a candidate in the March 2007 presidential election, and he subsequently served as Prime Minister from April 2007 to May 2008....

 and President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi

Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi

Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi is a Mauritanian politician. He served in the government during the 1970s, and after a long period of absence from politics he won the March 2007 presidential election, taking office on 19 April 2007...

.

Ould Mohamed Lemine was born in Kiffa

Kiffa

Kiffa is a city and department in south-central Mauritania. Kiffa is capital of Assaba Region. It is located at around .It is famous for its antique Kiffa beads....

. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation on August 1, 1984. He served in a number of positions, including first advisor of Mauritania's permanent mission to the United Nations

United Nations

The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...

 from February 1992 to January 1996 and Consul General in the Canary Islands

Canary Islands

The Canary Islands , also known as the Canaries , is a Spanish archipelago located just off the northwest coast of mainland Africa, 100 km west of the border between Morocco and the Western Sahara. The Canaries are a Spanish autonomous community and an outermost region of the European Union...

 from February 1996 to August 1997. In September 1997 he became Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the Office of the United Nations and the International Organizations in Geneva

Geneva

Geneva In the national languages of Switzerland the city is known as Genf , Ginevra and Genevra is the second-most-populous city in Switzerland and is the most populous city of Romandie, the French-speaking part of Switzerland...

, Switzerland, and in November 2006 he became Ambassador to Switzerland.

In parliament on 7 July 2007, Lemine denied accusations that there were U.S. prisons, secret military bases or training camps in Mauritania, responding to concerns from deputies. The claims about the existence of these facilities were first published by The New Yorker

The New Yorker

The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...

in June; Lemine described the claims as "false rumors".