Mauritania

The World Association of Newspapers and the World Editors Forum, which represent 18,000 publications in 100 countries, has written to the Mauritania authorities protesting the seizure of the print-runs of four weekly newspapers. According to reports, during the week of 12 to 18 October, the government banned or seized the print-runs of four weekly newspapers: Le Calame; Le Journal du Jeudi; Le Sahara; and Essahiva.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) has urged the Mauritanian authorities to lift a suspension order against the weekly "Le Calame". The Ministry of the Interior, Posts and Telecommunications, which regulates the press, suspended issue 414 of the weekly on 19 October 2003, citing Article 11 of the Press Law, which allows for censorship without explanation.

The Mauritanian government's harassment of opposition figures undermines any chance of free and fair elections, Human Rights Watch said in a letter to the Mauritanian president this week. From late April, Mauritanian security forces arrested dozens of religious leaders, opposition politicians and social activists, allegedly in a campaign to crack down on terrorist movements in Mauritania.

Mauritanian President Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya on Sunday named his Justice Minister, Sghaier Ould Mbarek, as the new Prime Minister replacing Cheikh El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna, the latest in a string of changes within the ruling establishment since last month's failed coup.

Mauritanian President Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya has confirmed plans to go ahead with presidential elections in November after narrowly surviving a coup attempt that led to two days of heavy fighting in the capital Nouakchott.

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