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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Mauritania
Index
In 1976, when Mauritanian troops occupied the Western Sahara
province of Tiris al Gharbiyya, as per terms of the Madrid
Agreements, they were immediately challenged in fierce fighting
with Polisario guerrillas. The fighting would drag on for two
years, draining an already improvised economy, provoking ethnic
conflict, and causing large numbers of casualties. The direct
cost of Mauritania's colonial venture proved exorbitant.
Mauritania rapidly increased its armed forces from only 3,000 at
the beginning of 1976 to about 12,000 at the beginning of 1977;
by mid-1978 the Mauritanian armed forces numbered between 15,000
and 17,000. Between 1975 and 1977, the government's expenditures
increased by 64 percent, most of which was allotted for defense
(see Defense Budget and the Economy
, ch. 5). This military
buildup placed a heavy burden on the weak economy and diverted
funds badly needed development projects. Further alienating the
population was a special defense tax, which the government levied
against the entire population; despite the tax, the country was
on the verge of bankruptcy by late 1977. Moreover, as the war
progressed, the power of the Mauritanian military grew,
contributing to internal disunity and a weak civilian government
unable to solve the problems of nation buildings.
Having more than 6,400 kilometers of undefended borders with
Mali and Algeria, Mauritania was highly vulnerable to attacks by
Polisario guerrillas, who were armed and supported by Algeria.
The government's inability to protect Mauritania's major towns,
even Nouakchott, which was attacked in June 1976, raised fears
that Moroccan troops would move into Mauritania, ostensibly to
interdict the guerrillas but also as an expansionist vanguard.
There was also fear of a possible plan on the part of Morocco's
enemy, Algeria, to replace the Daddah government with a puppet
regime.
Data as of June 1988
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