NOUAKCHOTT, December 26, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – The hajj dream of some two thousand Mauritanian pilgrims is jeopardized by a last-minute dispute between the country's airlines and the Royal Jordanian Airlines.

"Mauritanian pilgrims face a real crisis after the Jordanian Airlines cancelled a contract to fly them to Saudi Arabia," well-kept Mauritanian sources told IslamOnline.net on Monday, December 26.

The first batch of 1,824 Mauritanian pilgrims taking the spiritual journey through government's channels were to take a Royal Jordanian Airlines flight to Saudi Arabia at the weekend when the Jordanian carrier suddenly walked out of the deal.

The frustrated pilgrims demonstrated outside the offices of their national carrier, which owns one plane currently used by President Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, demanding a swift action.

Hajj consists of several ceremonies, meant to symbolize the essential concepts of the Islamic faith, and to commemorate the trials of Prophet Abraham and his family.

Every able-bodied adult Muslim who can financially afford the trip must perform hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, once in their lifetime.

Mauritanian airlines officials told Al-Akhbar, the country's independent news agency, that they were working on a new deal with a foreign airlines to fly the pilgrims.

They expected the problem to be settled within a few days.

Only Mauritanian pilgrims taking the spiritual journey through government's channels are affected by the problem, according to IOL's correspondent.

Mauritanians going on hajj though such channel pay some US& 2,692 dollars each while many others prefer to travel through tour operators which organize less expensive trips.

Muslims make up 100 percent of Mauritania's some three million people population, according to the CIA facts book.