Yearbook 2006
Mauritania. According to
CountryAAH, an overwhelming majority of the population
voted in June for a new constitution that many hope will end
the countless coups that have affected Mauritania since independence
in 1960. The referendum, where participation was large, was
the first of several elections planned by the military junta
which took power in the country in a bloody coup in August
2005. The proposed reforms were aimed at reducing the
president's power. In the future, a president would be
allowed a maximum of two terms of office for each of five
years. It would also be more difficult for future presidents
to change the constitution.
The parliamentary elections, which were held on two
occasions in November – December, meant a victory for the
former opposition. According to the preliminary results
presented in December, 41 of the 95 parliamentary seats went
to an alliance of eleven former opposition parties, while
the former government (Republican Democratic and Socialist
Party) was expected to get 23. No party seemed to have its
own majority. The new parliament would gather after the
presidential election scheduled for March 2007. According to
international election observers, the parliamentary
elections were free and fair.
Mauritania started producing oil at the beginning of the
year. The oil is extracted from Chinguetti off the Atlantic
coast. Production was expected to reach 75,000 barrels per
day over the next nine years and is an important addition to
the poor Mauritania.
In June, another positive economic message came when the
International Monetary Fund decided to write off all the
country's debts, a total of about two billion dollars.
Mauritania has become a new shipping port for Africans
trying to escape to Europe via the Canary Islands. The
reason is that checks have become tougher in Morocco, which
used to be the most important starting point for emigrants.
Tens of thousands of Africans go out in small boats every
year to get to Europe, many drown on the road. Prime
Minister Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar appealed for help from
the outside world. The Spanish government quickly sent a
delegation to Mauritania to discuss the problem and also promised to
take patrol flights to guard Mauritania's 75-mile border along the
Atlantic.
About 300,000 children were threatened by starvation in
the Sahel area, which is among other things M. Although the
harvest in 2006 was quite good, chronic food shortages
prevailed due to three decades of drought. The UN had a hard
time getting the $ 100 million that it had pledged to save
the children.
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