First Independent Mena Newspaper
Leader of the anti-slavery movement IRA (Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement) has slammed President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz’s regime for looting the Mauritanian people, reports say. “Their only realization is illicit enrichment, division of Mauritanians, and ideological, ethnical and religious indoctrination of communities,” Biram Dah Abeid said in an address before members […]
A number of recent developments noticed both in Mauritania and Morocco have heralded normalization of diplomatic ties between the two Maghreb countries following a recent tension in their relations, after a change in Mauritania’s stand vis-à-vis the Polisario Front, which disputes Morocco’s sovereignty over the Western Sahara territory. One strong signal of a thaw in […]
The Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, in power since 2008, has been unshaken by the opposition for many reasons, but if he still has a tight grip on the country, it is mainly due to the faithfulness of some men of trust. One of those men, says West Africa Newsletter, is Mohamed Ould Ghazouania; Chief […]
A court in Nouakchott has upheld the prison sentences handed to two sons of former Mauritanian president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla involved in a drug trafficking case, reports say. Ely Cheikh and Sidi Mohamed Ould Haidalla saw the prison sentences they were handed in June confirmed, their lawyer Moctar Ould Ely told the media on […]
The United States has recently condemned in strong terms the imprisonment and the torture endured by anti-slavery activists in Mauritania. The US condemnation came after a court in Mauritania handed 13 members of the slavery abolitionist movement (known by its acronym IRA) sentences ranging from three to 15 years. “The United States is gravely concerned […]
The Mauritania state prosecutor Wednesday demanded 20-year prison sentence for members of the Mauritanian anti-slavery association arrested last month for “prompting armed protest in a slum of capital Nouakchott.” Thirteen people among whom 10 members of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement (IRA) have been standing trial since August 3. The defendants […]
Thirteen anti-slavery activists on trial in Mauritania said they have been tortured during their detention, their lawyers said. The activists, on trial for “rebellion and use of violence”, were arrested last month after riots in a Nouakchott slum community that was being forcibly relocated as the west African country prepared for an Arab League summit. […]
A coordinated network assault by state security forces on Sunday led to the seizure of one ton of cocaine at Nouadhibou sea port, reports say. Army coast guards, military police and police forces launched the coordinated operation at and around the port located in the city of Nouadhibou, more than 400 km north of capital […]
Climate change is taking a toll on Mauritania’s capital Nouakchott coupled with rising sea levels, lack of sanitation and rising population growth, Alex Duval Smith wrote for the Guardian from Nouakchott. “Much of the city is at or below sea level, protected from the ocean only by an eroding dune,” deplored Smith who recommended moving […]
Cheikh Baye ould Mohamed, a journalist and member of a youth movement opposed to the Mauritanian regime was handed a three-year prison sentence Thursday for hurling a shoe at the cabinet spokesperson end of last month at a weekly press briefing. The defendant’s lawyers said they would appeal the ruling they deem too harsh. Baye […]