Mauritania

On August 3, 2005, a Colonel of the Mauritanian army and close collaborator of former Mauritanian President, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, carried out a bloodless coup d'etat - the most recent in Africa's history. Before this day, General Maaouya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya had been ruling the vast West African country for close to 22 years. The Post's David Akana met the Mauritanian Interim Leader - Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Val in the Presidential palace in the capital Nouakchott recently. The latter fiel...read more

Mauritania deposited its instrument of ratification of the protocol on the African charter on human and peoples’ rights on the rights of women in Africa with the African Union on 14th December 2005. Burkina Faso and Guinea in West Africa will very shortly deposit their ratification instrument as their parliaments have respectively authorised it. Outside West Africa, Mozambique’s Parliament has also approved the ratification of the Protocol.

Mauritanian refugees in Senegal and Mali have launched new efforts to pressure the regional governments to resolve the protracted plight of the thousands of stateless black Mauritanians who were expelled from their country in 1989 through a brutal campaign of ethnic cleansing.

The General Confederation of Worker's in Mauritania (CGTM) has increased its female membership from 15 to 30% through a massive recruitment of women in the informal sector. 'The aim [of recruiting informal workers] is not only to ensure an improvement in the working conditions of these women but also in their living conditions, which will benefit their families too,' says Abdallahi Ould Mohamed, CGTM General Secretary. 'The women flooded to our union because they were carried by the hope of a...read more

Mauritanian army officers have announced the overthrow of the president and creation of a ruling military council. The military council said it had ended the "totalitarian regime" of President Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya. Troops have seized control of state media and main routes in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott.

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