Upcoming Mauritania presidential elections

Mauritanians go to the polls on 21 June to elect a new President. The incumbent, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, launched his re-election campaign on 6 June in the southern city of Kaedi, telling supporters that since he came to power the country had made ‘great strides’ in security and economic growth.

Abdel Aziz has the strong support of the West, notably the United States, France, and the UK, for his tough stance against terrorism. Also, at face value his economic claims are hard to dispute. Mauritania managed economic growth of 6 per cent last year, with the president claiming credit for the burgeoning mining sector and a drop in inflation to less than 5 per cent.

He has also brought a degree of stability and continuity, thereby reassuring international companies that have invested in the country.

Poverty is still widespread, however, and unless the country strikes oil and/or gas in good quantities fairly soon, its economic future is in the balance. 

The more radical opposition parties have formed themselves into a new alliance called the National Forum for Democracy and Unity (FNDU). They comprise the Islamist Tawassoul movement and the 10 opposition parties forming the Coordination for a Democratic Opposition (COD), which boycotted last November’s election.

The FNDU is boycotting the upcoming election because its members claim that the process lacks credibility and transparency. Other opposition parties, notably the Popular Progressive Alliance (APP), are also boycotting the election for the same reason.

The opposition parties have widely criticised Abdel Aziz for his authoritarian rule. Thousands of FNDU supporters demonstrated throughout Nouakchott on 3 June, protesting at his autocratic approach and at the way the elections have been organised.

His opponents claim, with good reason, that democracy has taken a backseat during his tenure. They accuse the president of using the government and state institutions as his own personal electoral apparatus. This month, six ministers went on vacation, reportedly ordered to do so in order to spend time helping to manage the president’s electoral campaign. Among them were the minister of justice and the government’s official spokesperson. 

Abdel Aziz’s response to the election boycott has been a defiant call for a 100 per cent turnout. The opposition, in turn, has vowed to ramp up its protests.

For more news and expert analysis about the Sahara region, please see Sahara Focus.

  

© 2014 Menas Associates

Mauritania: Election developments

Mauritania continues its roller-coaster ride towards legislative and municipal elections on 23 November, with still no certainty as to whether they will be held or postponed. The first talks in four years between the government and 11-party Co-ordination of Democratic Opposition (COD) began on Monday 30 September but broke up after two days.

Speaking shortly after the break-up, the COD's (rotating) president, Mohamed Ould Mouloud (above), said the two sides disagreed on a number of issues, including the suggestion by the ruling party that the polls be postponed by 15 days, and the opposition's demand that the ruling party's unilateral agenda be suspended in a bid to reach a political agreement to create an environment in which to organise free, democratic and transparent elections. During the two days of talks, the parties also discussed the organisation and monitoring of the polls as well as the impartiality of the State's institutions in the electoral process.

 

The fundamental sticking point between the two was that the COD wanted the polls postponed until April 2014 to allow time to prepare a full voter census and electoral role. The COD also wanted guarantees of the independence of the CENI electoral commission.

 

On Thursday 3 October, the communications minister said there was a possibility that talks with the opposition might resume. However, on the following day, the COD announced that 10 of its 11 member parties had decided to boycott the elections, with only the Tawassoul party agreeing to participate.

 

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

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Mauritania: Kinross strike ends

The 10-day strike, which began at Kinross' massive Tasiast gold mine on 8 August, has ended. According to the company, the strike had “minimal” impact on gold production. It has, however, been reported that amid the 10-day shutdown, rating experts at the Bank of Montreal downgraded Kinross and removed the expansion of the Tasiast mine from the company's production forecasts.

About 1,500 workers, representing 98% of the mine's labour force, were reported to have walked off the job on 8 August in demand of better health coverage and respect for Mauritania's labour code. The conflict seems to have begun when managers demanded the mine remain in operation during Eid al-Fitr. The strike, called by Mauritania's main trade union confederation the CGTM, has been resolved under terms that have not been made public.

 

The International Trade Union Confederation, with which the CGTM is affiliated, is demanding "urgent clarification" on the fate of one worker allegedly found dead under "obscure circumstances" near the mine site during the strike.

 

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

© 2013 Menas Associates

Mauritania: Presidential majority agrees to aspects of Boulkheir initiative

 

A delegation of the Coalition of the Presidential Majority (CPM) met Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, President of the National Assembly and the People's Progressive Party Alliance (PPA), at his home on the evening of 9 May to give him their response in writing to his initiative to end the country's political crisis.

 

The delegation was led by Sheikh Ould Ethmane Ould Abou El Maaly, who holds the rotating presidency of the CPM. He was accompanied by:

Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Mohamed Lemine, President of the ruling UPR party;
Naha Mint Hamdi Ould Mouknass, President of the UDP;
Mintata Mint Hedeit, secretary general of RDRP;
Isselmou Ould Moustapha, President of the PCD; and
Lalla Mint Chriv, President of the (burst of) Youth Party.

 

The CPM's response was said to be broadly favourable and well disposed towards the initiative. A source close to Messaoud Boulkheir said that it was an “acceptable” answer. The consensus among the media reports is that the CPM is clearly willing to engage in dialogue with other parties on all the issues raised by Boulkheir's initiative, with the exception of forming a government of national unity, as long as they conformed to the country's constitution. Most reports described the CPM's response as being “flexible” and “positive”.

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

© 2013 Menas Associates

Mauritania: UFP demands “consensus” on elections

 

A hint of the likelihood of elections being delayed until next year was given in April by Mohamed Ould Mouloud, president of the Union des Forces du Progrès (UFP or Union of the Forces of Progress), in a debate organised by the Maghrebian Studies Centre.

Ould Mouloud warned that if a political consensus was not reached, the elections would take place not merely in abnormal conditions in Mauritania but in the worst political crisis that the country has experienced since 2008. He gave a strong hint of why the elections are likely to be derailed and rolled up into next year when he said that the UFP would not participate in elections "without a political consensus and strong guarantees that the election would be transparent, with people being able to choose freely without political pressure”.

The UFP is a left-leaning party, describing itself as a multi-ethnic, Republican party oriented towards social justice. It has made strong statements against the persecution of dark-skinned Mauritanians, the continuation of slavery and unfair labour practices. The UFP has also strongly condemned the involvement of the Mauritanian army in politics.

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

© 2013 Menas Associates

Mauritania becomes 'meeting ground' for Azawad fighters

 

There have been several, albeit mostly vague, reports and local chatter about how Mauritania is becoming a meeting place for most of the increasing number of groups and factions contesting the future of the Azawad region of Mali.

In addition to the almost 100,000 refugees from Mali still in Mauritania (see below), representatives of Tuareg and Arab communities and groups from Azawad, representatives and members of many of the terrorist/Islamist organisations and Azawadian political movements, as well as politically influential Malians, are using Mauritania as a safe haven in which to meet and discuss their strategies for the future of both Azawad and Mali as a whole.

For the moment, this situation has not yet threatened instability in Mauritania. But it certainly has the potential to do so, not simply because of the distinct possibility of renewed fighting or at least skirmishing between these many groups, but also because there are signs that many of the Islamists that have been driven out of Mali by the Franco-Chadian forces may seek a new haven in Mauritania.

This is a threat faced by many other countries in the region, notably Niger, Burkina Faso and Libya, but it is probably greatest in Mauritania because of its many sympathetic Salafist strands and the links that Mauritania already has with these Islamists groups (notably AQIM and MUJAO).

Two names which have been mentioned within some concern within this context are Henoune Ould Ali and Amar Ould Hamaha. Ould Ali, from a small Arab tribe linked to the Berabich, is a wealthy trader believed to be a significant financier of MUJAO. Ould Hamaha, generally known as “Red Beard” in the Malian press, was prominent in both AQIM and MUJAO, and believed to be responsible for many of the atrocities committed by the Islamists in Timbuktu before creating Ansar Shari'a.

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

© 2013 Menas Associates

Military plane crashes

A Brazilian-made EMB-314 Super Tucano military aircraft crashed about 7km south of Aoujeft (c. 300 miles NE of Nouakchott) on the Adrar plateau at 10:50 on 18 March. The plane, which was at first reported to have been on a training mission, was actually on a test flight after undergoing maintenance.

The plane had two people on board. Captain Ahmed Taleb Ould Aheimed, who was piloting the aircraft, survived with only slight injuries. The mechanic, Sergeant Boubacar M'Bodj, was killed.

With French assistance, the Mauritanian army had established a training centre for pilots and technicians at Atar more than two years ago in order to respond to the AQIM terrorist attacks that had begun on the country in 2005. A military source indicated that the crash was the result of a “technical failure”, although an enquiry is being held.

 

This is the second military plane to crash in less than 12 months. In July 2012, a military plane crashed on the tarmac of Nouakchott airport, killing eight people.

 

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

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Mauritania: AQIM reinforcements coming from Algeria

 

Timbuktu is now even more firmly in the control of the Islamists (mostly AQIM), as well as the entire region surrounding the town. Most of the Islamists' reinforcements have come from Algeria. Agence France Press (AFP), quoting Mali security sources, reported several dozen 'white-skinned' Algerians (i.e. Arabs) arriving in Timbuktu on the weekend of 24-25 November. Our own field contacts who gained access to AQIM camps confirmed that dozens had crossed over from Algeria and that French was being spoken, suggesting that some of them may have come from France (see below). As the Algerian border is heavily guarded and officially 'closed', this suggests that Algeria is lying to the outside world about its border security and/or sending its own Islamists to support AQIM.

Both are true. Algeria's DRS has been controlling the leadership and supporting AQIM since it was established in the Sahara-Sahel after the end of 2006. The AQIM leader, Abdelhamid Abou Zaid, is currently in command of the Islamist forces around Timbuktu. He is accompanied by Iyad ag Ghaly, leader of Ansar al-Din. Both men have long been associated with Algeria's DRS.

Although we have always known about the DRS links with and support for AQIM and Ansar al-Din, we did not know the strength of this support until we were able to access the camps and reconnoitre the Timbuktu region this week. This alters the military configuration of the whole region.

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

© 2012 Menas Associates

Mauritania: The latest news on the president, as at 29 October

President Abdel Aziz was discharged from hospital in Paris on October 24. Differing reports had him staying in a hotel near an airport or at the Mauritania Embassy. The same reports said he was returning to Mauritania on Sunday 28 October.

The latest news, sourced to Mohamed Ould El Kory, director of ANAIR ( Agence Nation d'Appui et d'Insertion des Réfugiés) and co-ordinator of the ruling UPR's Political Commission, is that the president, since leaving the Percy Hospital (Paris) at 16:00 pm on 24 October, is now convalescing in Nice.

Even though his state of health is reportedly very good, Ould El Kory said that the president's doctors had recommended two weeks of rest. According to Ould El Kory, the president was “on top of things”, as evidenced by his appointment on 27 October of a Mauritanian Ambassador to Iraq and his assurance that he will preside over the next cabinet meeting (Council of Ministers) currently scheduled for 8 November.

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

© 2012 Menas Associates