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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Mauritania
Index
For their part, Polisario strategists sought first to remove
Mauritania from the conflict and then to direct their efforts
against the far stronger Moroccan forces. In mid-1977 the
Polisario launched a general offensive against Mauritania to
cripple its economy and incite internal opposition to the war,
hoping thereby that the government either would withdraw from the
conflict or would be overthrown by one more sympathetic to the
Polisario cause. In May Polisario guerrillas attacked the SNIM
operations at Zouîrât, killing two French technicians and
capturing another six. The remaining expatriates at Zouîrât
immediately left, and Mauritania promptly requested aid from
Morocco. In June 1977, Morocco's military command merged with
Mauritania's in the Supreme Defense Council, and 600 Moroccan
troops arrived to protect Zouîrât. Following further attacks
against the railroad linking the SNIM iron ore mines with the
port at Nouadhibou, the Mauritanian government reversed an
earlier position and requested--and received--military aid from
France. In December 1977, French aircraft, in their first action,
attacked Polisario guerrillas returning from raids into
Mauritania.
Several wealthy Arab oil-producing states, such as Saudi
Arabia, Kuwait, and Abu Dhabi, also provided Mauritania with
significant aid to contain the revolutionary fervor advocated by
the Polisario. Between 1976 and 1978, Saudi Arabia, in
particular, provided funds amounting to twice Mauritania's annual
budget.
In spite of the military aid it received, Mauritania was not
able to prevent the Polisario from bombarding Nouakchott for a
second time, in July 1977. The rocket attack against the capital
stunned Daddah, who immediately reorganized both the army and the
government, appointing for the first time a military officer to
the post of minister of defense. Daddah previously had resisted
bringing the military into his civilian government for fear of a
military takeover
(see Role of the Military in Society
, ch. 5).
By the end of 1977, Daddah faced growing opposition to the
war and to his administration. In the military, black recruits
from the south, who had joined the army because they lacked other
employment opportunities and who formed a majority of the ground
troops, had little interest in fighting Polisario guerrillas in
the north. Moreover, black civilians resented having to pay a tax
to support a war between Arabs. In addition, many Maure soldiers
sympathized with the objectives of the Polisario, with whom they
shared ethnic ties. Finally, anti-Moroccan nationalists within
the PPM opposed the war on the grounds that it afforded Morocco
opportunities to expand its influence.
Data as of June 1988
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