Mauritania: Administrative and technical problems

Communications Minister Ould Hormah told the press that the government expected a strong turnout and that the elections would use advanced technology. He was specifically referring to biometric voter registration which, he said, would be deployed to ensure the elections were "transparent and credible".

The extent of the government's administrative and technological preparedness for the elections is not at all clear. While the government has, for some time, been making bland statements about the electoral role and biometric registration being at an advanced stage, there is no sign of hard evidence to back up the claim. Indeed, the COD certainly believes otherwise. It issued a statement on Sunday 4 August saying, “Most of the Mauritanian people haven't received identification cards, while the rest haven't been registered yet and will not be registered anytime soon because the necessary circumstances aren't available.”

There are still two months before the election and, as the recent election in neighbouring Mali has shown, a lot can be done in the last few weeks. But that could be difficult to achieve in Mauritania, largely because it will not have the same level of help from Western countries, notably from France and the UN.

If there are administrative and voter registration problems, then the situation would appear to be even worse among Mauritanian expatriate communities abroad, especially in France where the signs are that the majority are still not registered.

For more news and expert analysis about Mauritania, please see Mauritania Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Three killed in an IDP camp in west Darfur

The UN Secretary General Ban Kimoon's office issued a statement saying that the Secretary General is “concerned about the situation in Kalma camp between internally displaced persons (IDPs) supporting the Darfur Peace Process,” and encouraged all concerned to “address their differences through political dialogue and to refrain from any action that could incite violence.” The statement was issued shortly after news that three people had been killed in an IDP camp in west Darfur during a conflict between several rebel groups.

A UN spokesperson, Martin Nesirky, said that the UN has received information from the African Union Mission in Darfur (UNAMID) about the death of three individuals who were thought to be "close" to the Liberation and Justice Movement (LJM).

LJM has recently signed an agreement with the Sudanese government in an attempt to quell the conflict that has been raging in Darfur since 2003. The three victims were gunned down during a confrontation, at the Hamadiya IDP camp, between supporters of LJM and supporters of the Sudan Liberation Army-Abdul Wahid (SLA-AW), a rebel movement opposed to peace negotiations with the government.

The Sudanese police have arrested four suspects involved in the conflict. UNAMID is expected to assist the police with the official investigation and will be “closely monitoring the aftermath."

Source: Focus Infromation Agency

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For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus, Libya Focus and Libya Politics & Security.