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Mauritania
Index
In 1969 following Morocco's official recognition of
Mauritania, the government pursued a more radical political
agenda to reduce its economic dependence on France. The first
major step toward this aim was taken in 1972, when the government
announced that it would review the agreements signed with France
at independence and would sign new, more stringent agreements on
cultural, technical, and economic cooperation in 1973. New
agreements on military and monetary cooperation were pointedly
eliminated, and Mauritania soon declared its intention of leaving
the West Africa Monetary Union and its
Franc Zone (see Glossary)
and introducing its own currency, the ouguiya, with the backing
of Algeria and other Arab countries
(see Banking and Government Finances
, ch. 3). In 1974, MIFERMA, which was controlled by
French interests and provided 80 percent of national exports, was
nationalized and the name changed to National Mining and
Industrial Company (Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière--
SNIM). Also in 1974, Mauritania joined the League of Arab States
(Arab League). Finally, during the August 1975 congress of the
PPM, Daddah presented a charter calling for an Islamic, national,
centralist, and socialist democracy. The charter was so popular
that both the Mauritanian Kadihine Party and the Party of
Mauritanian Justice withdrew their opposition to the Daddah
government.
In the early 1970s, the Daddah government made some progress
toward achieving national unity and economic independence. These
gains, however, were more than offset by the economic hardship
caused by a Sahelian drought that lasted from 1969 to 1974.
Thousands of nomads migrated to shantytowns outside the cities,
increasing urban population from 8 percent of the total
population to 25 percent between 1962 and 1975
(see Changing Social Patterns
, ch. 2). But other problems forced Mauritania's
leaders to shift their focus from internal to external events:
the decolonization of the neighboring Western Sahara at the end
of 1975; the subsequent occupation of that former Spanish
territory by Morocco and Mauritania; and the liberation struggle
of the indigenous people of the Western Sahara, which embroiled
Mauritania in a long and costly war.
Data as of June 1988
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