Headlines Mauritania

Mauritania: Senate & Ruling Party at Odds over Constitutional Change

Tension is growing between the Mauritanian Senate and the ruling Union pour la Republique party (UPR) over regime’s plans to suppress the chamber without consulting its members as enshrined in the constitution. The Mauritanian regime last month organized a national dialogue to lead to a referendum over the replacement of the senate by regional councils […]

Headlines Mauritania

U.N. Officials Slam Mauritania for Stifling Anti-Slavery Activists

U.N. human rights officials condemned the systematic oppression endured by anti-slavery activists in Mauritania who have been handed a 15-year jail sentence. “The (Mauritanian) government is hostile to civil society groups that criticize its policies, especially to groups like IRA, whose members are drawn from the Haratin minority and advocate for an end to slavery,” […]

Algeria Headlines Mauritania

US Think Tank Warns of Frail Stability in Algeria, Mauritania

The American Enterprise Institute (AEI), a public policy think tank, published on its website an article that exposes the frail stability in Algeria and Mauritania, putting the two North African states in a list of “ten countries whose stability cannot be taken for granted.” The article, signed by Michael Rubin, points out to the semi-military […]

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 […]