Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania Lays into Burkina’s President over Anti-slavery Leader’s Address on State TV

Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has asked his Burkina Faso counterpart Marc-Christian Kaboré for explanations for letting Mauritanian anti-slavery activist Birame ould Dah ould Abeïd speak on the West African country’s public channel, reports say. Tension has risen between the two presidents after Birame ould Dah ould Abeïd, leader of the anti-slavery movement IRA […]

Headlines Morocco

Morocco Captures Algerian Military Officers, Polisario Fighters in Guergarat

The Royal Armed Forces conducted an operation that foiled an Algerian plan to establish a polisario separatist military presence in the southernmost tip of the Sahara, Guergarat, capturing 6 Algerian military officers and several polisario fighters. The news is relayed by Assabah daily which says that the Moroccan Armed Forces (known by the French acronym […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania: Opposition Threatens to Quit Dialogue as Gvt calls for Third Term for President Abdel Aziz

Moderate opposition parties in Mauritania, which are taking part in the political dialogue organized by the regime, have threatened to walk out of the process after government spokesperson tried to impose proposals allowing constitutional change and paving the way for a third term in office for incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Around 700 people […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania: Leading Opposition Movements Reject President’s Call for Inclusive Dialogue

Mauritania’s main opposition parties have boycotted President Ould Abdel Aziz’s call for national inclusive dialogue, which they believe is a covert agenda to maintain the Mauritania President in power after he reaches constitutional term limit. The 10-day dialogue, opened on Thursday, has lost, according to main opposition figures, its credibility as the political parties opposed […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania: Private Newspapers Go off to Protest Difficult Work Conditions

Mauritania’s main stream private newspapers have chosen to go off on Wednesday in a move to denounce unbearable work conditions coupled with authorities’ tight grip on private media, reports say. The Wednesday action is undertaken “to protest against the situation of deep crisis that Mauritanian private newspapers are stranded in,” said Sy Mamadou, Chief Editor […]

Headlines Morocco

UN Envoy Fears Return to Outright War in Sahara

The war scenario between Morocco and the Algerian-backed Polisario separatists was at the heart of talks separately held by the UN Secretary General’s Personal Envoy for the Sahara with the Foreign Ministers of Spain and Mauritania. On the backdrop of the cease-fire violations by the Polisario militias in the buffer zone of Guerguarat and the […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania: Regime Turned Country into Cash Cow, Anti-Slavery Activist

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 […]

Headlines Morocco

How Morocco’s Guergarat Operation Foiled Algeria’s Plot to Create Refugee Camp in Lagouira

The anti-smuggling operation that Morocco launched to clear the southernmost tip of the Saharan provinces of all sorts of illegal commercial activities had a geopolitical impact in terms of barring the road for Algeria and its allies in Nouakchott from creating a camp where they intended to dislocate some of the population held against their […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania-Morocco: End of Tension between Nouakchott & Rabat?

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 […]

Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania: Men of Trust, President Ould Abdelaziz’s Shield

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 […]