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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Mauritania
Index
Mauritania, outlined on globe in front of Ministry of
Defense
MAURITANIA'S GOVERNANCE EPITOMIZES a cycle all too evident
throughout sub-Saharan Africa. A civilian government, espousing
the liberal democratic principles inherited from the colonial
regime, came to power on the eve of independence. After it had
ruled for nearly a generation, during which time the expectations
born at independence remained largely unfulfilled and government
became increasingly capricious and corrupt, a military regime
toppled the civilian government and suspended the Constitution.
In the following years, a succession of military rulers, each
promising to end the corruption, abuse of authority, and economic
waste of earlier regimes, proved as unwilling and inept as their
civilian predecessor at ensuring the territorial integrity of the
state, achieving national unity, and fostering economic
development in the face of severe environmental challenges. The
subsequent ascendancy in 1987 of what appeared to be a reformist
government, albeit military, demonstrated for the first time
Mauritania's growing understanding of the limits of government as
this new regime grappled with the problem of adapting the longstanding cultural values of a very poor society to the needs of a
modern developing state.
Prior to independence, Mauritania served as a bridge between
the Maghrib (see Glossary)
and West Africa, with strong cultural
links to the former and equally strong economic and
administrative ties to the latter. Like Sudan and Chad, which
also link Arab North Africa with black Africa, Mauritania
suffered internal social and political problems as cultures
collided. The potential for conflict was strengthened by the
proliferation of particularist-regional political parties before
independence. These parties, composed exclusively of either ArabBerbers (Maures) or one of several black ethnic groups and
advocating union with Arab Morocco or with black Mali, tended to
aggravate existing cleavages.
To overcome the structural problems intrinsic to the
Mauritanian polity, its first president, Moktar Ould Daddah,
resorted to one-party rule with a strong executive branch.
Although the Constitution of 1961 called for some power-sharing
between the president and the legislature, the National Assembly,
in practice, routinely supported presidential initiatives, and
government remained highly centralized. Daddah's ill-fated
participation in the
Western Sahara
(see Glossary) conflict and
the resulting ruin of the Mauritanian economy led to a military
coup in July 1978. Daddah was detained and later exiled, and his
government was replaced by the eighteen-member Military Committee
for National Recovery (Comité Militaire de Redressement National--CMRN)
with Lieutenant Colonel Mustapha Salek as president.
During the next six years, ensuing military regimes failed to
resolve the thorny issue of Mauritania's involvement in the
Western Sahara and failed to improve Mauritania's dismal economic
performance. On December 12, 1984, Chief of Staff and former
Minister of Defense Maaouiya Ould Sid Ahmed Ould Taya led a group
of dissident officers who staged a palace coup against head of
state Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla.
Still in power in late 1987, the military government under
President Taya has eschewed ideological labels. Initially, Taya's
policies reflected the amalgam of private capitalism and state
ownership of industry common throughout sub-Saharan Africa. In
his first interviews as president, Taya pledged that his
administration would respect human rights, end corruption, and
promote national unity. In one of his first acts, he freed
thirty-two political prisoners seized by his predecessor. He also
promised to hold elections for municipal councils in Mauritania's
thirteen largest urban areas before the end of 1986, ostensibly
to encourage local initiatives but also to appease ethnically
based interests. The elections, whose fairness was acclaimed by
independent observers, took place on December 19, 1986, and more
were promised for smaller towns. As for a return to civilian
rule, Taya insisted in March 1985 that Mauritanians must first
develop an understanding of civic participation in order to avoid
the divisions and paralysis that characterized the final years of
Haidalla's government.
Mauritania has joined the Nonaligned Movement and has sought
to establish friendly relations with both East and West. In
response to Morocco's irredentist claims through the 1960s,
Mauritania appealed for and received support from France and
Western and African allies. That support continued as
Mauritania's fortunes in the Western Sahara conflict deteriorated
in the late 1970s and Morocco's challenges to Mauritania's
borders mounted. As its own economy faltered and its dependence
on loans and grants deepened, Mauritania improved its ties with
wealthier Middle Eastern and Maghribi states at the expense of
its relations with black Africa. In a further attempt to find
aid, the government has moved away from total reliance on the
West and strengthened relations with the Soviet Union and
China.
Data as of June 1988
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