First Independent Mena Newspaper
Mauritanian Parliament has passed a new anti-slavery law which criminalizes “10 forms of slavery”, including forced marriage and other controversial social practices such as handing a woman over to another man without her consent after the death of her husband. Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981, but human rights activists say the practice is still alive. […]
UN Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly & of association, Maina Kiai, has voiced serious concerns over a draft law on Ngos & civil society associations, approved last month by the Council of Ministers. This bill “threatens the exercise of fundamental freedoms in the country, in particular the right to freedom […]
Mauritania has released the former spokesman of Ansar Dine, Sidi Mohamed Ould Mohamed Ould Bouamama, aka Sanda Ould Bouamama, from prison raising fears that he would engage again within the extremist group and resume participation in terror activities. Mali had issued an international arrest warrant against him for alleged crimes he had committed during the […]
The one-day 4th Summit of the Pan-African Agency for the Great Green Belt held in Mauritania this Monday with the participation of several African Heads of State concerned by the desert encroachment has reignited the debate over the arrest of Sudanese president Omar al-Bashir. President Omar Al-Bashir arrived, Sunday, in Mauritanian capital city Nuakchott, leading […]
Ahmed Wald Habib al-Rahman, considered to be the Mufti of Mauritania, told President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz and other high officials that the country needs to create a Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice, or religious police, in order to enforce Sharia in Mauritania. During an encounter at the Grand […]
Mauritania and the European Union (EU) have signed the fourth implementing protocol to the EU’s Sustainable Fisheries Partnership Agreement (SFPA) in a deal described by both partners as a “win-win” agreement. The implementation of the SFPA started in December 2006. After 16 months of intense negotiations, Nouakchott’s chief negotiator Cheikh Ould Baya said apart from the economic gains and […]
The fifth round of negotiations on fisheries between Mauritania and the European Union (EU) kicked-off on Tuesday in Nouakchott and will last for three days. As the two parties are trying to negotiate a new fisheries agreement some European fisheries bodies want certain aspects of the accord to be modified claiming that it is disadvantageous. […]
The international humanitarian organisation “Médecins Sans Frontières” (MSF) has warned lately against the increasing risk of malnutrition of Malian refugees in Mbera Camp, Mauritania, following the cancellation of monthly food rations. Faced with plummeting financial resources, the World Food Program (WFP) has failed to provide the necessary food assistance to the 49,500 Malian refugees for […]
A diplomatic row between Algiers and Nouakchott has erupted over an article published by Mauritanian e-journal Al-Bayan, alleging that Mauritania had complained to the U.N about Morocco flooding it with drugs. Mauritania, infuriated by the false news that could strain its ties with Morocco, immediately expelled the Chief adviser at the Algerian embassy Belkacem Cherouati […]
Maroc Telecom’s growth expectations for 2014 have been fulfilled as the net income of Morocco’s leading telecommunications group increased by 5.6% to MAD 5.850 billion compared to MAD 5.540 billion a year earlier, i.e. a net margin of 20.1% in progress by 0.7 points. Last year, the consolidated revenue of Itissalat Al Maghrib or IAM […]