Domestic Politics

A major cabinet reshuffle took place on 26 May, after several weeks of speculation. The reshuffle affected 14 ministries: National Education; Health; Public Employment and Labour; Digital Transformation, Innovation and Modernisation of Administration; Fishing and Maritime Economy; Agriculture; Veterinary; Trade, Industry, Handicraft and Tourism; Employment and Professional Training, Housing, Urbanism and Land Reclamation; Water and Sanitation; Higher Education and Scientific Research; Culture, Youth, Sports and Relations with the Government; and Social Work, Childhood and the Family. The reshuffle did not signal any considerable changes in the country’s policies, but it revealed the internal political dynamics, combined with the fact that Ghazouani’s government had consolidated its power. At the same time, an increased proportion of the politically aware urban population called for more effective measures to tackle the growing divide between state policy and public demands. Messaoud Ould Boulkheir, president of the Progressive National Assembly Party and former speaker of parliament, and Biram Dah Abeid, politician, human rights advocate, and former presidential candidate, also stated that despite all anti-corruption measures they still found that governmental welfare programmes suffered from a lack of transparency. They required stricter control, especially over the direct disbursement of monetary funds. Mauritania was ranked 140th out of 180 countries, compared with 134th/180 in 2020 in the ti Corruption Perceptions Index. The Global Freedom score was 35/100 compared with 34/100 in 2020, indicating a status of ‘partly free’.

The 2020 Law on Combating Manipulation of Information (‘La loi contre la manipulation de l’information’), relating to the publishing of ‘false’ information on social media, continued to prompt criticism from opposition parliamentarians and human rights activists. In April, the Minority Rights Group International (mrg) reported that ‘a woman recently released from slavery, a Swiss journalist and two members of a Mauritanian non-governmental organisation and mrg partner sos-Esclaves (sos) were rounded up by the authorities on 16 April and detained for nearly 72 hours’. Both mrg and local human rights organisations sos and the Association des Femmes Chefs de Famille (afcf) expressed their deep concern about the arrests. On 24 April, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontières/rsf) condemned the arrest of Abdellahi Mohamed Ould Atigha, the editor of independent newspaper ‘Al Hoora’ in Boutilimit, over a Facebook post questioning what had happened to money earmarked for disadvantaged sectors of the population. On 9 November, the parliament adopted a law on the protection of national symbols and criminalisation of offences against the authority of the state and the honour of the citizen (‘de loi relatif à la protection des symboles nationaux et à l’incrimination de l’atteinte au prestige de l’État et à l’honneur du citoyen’). At the beginning of December, seven Mauritanian and international human rights organisations expressed their deep concern about the adoption of the law and its impact on freedom of expression. The signatory organisations were Access Now, afcf, Article 19, Forum des Organisations Nationales de Droits Humains (fonadh), the mena (Middle East and North Africa) Rights Group, the Organisation pour le Développement International Social, Solidaire et Intégré (odissi), and Social Media Exchange (smex). The Mauritanian Journalists’ Union (Syndicat des Journalistes Mauritaniens/sjm) also called on the government to modify the law. In rsf’s World Press Freedom Index, Mauritania has fallen 46 places since 2016 and in 2021 was ranked 94th out of 180 countries.

On 9 March, the parliamentary commission (ayb 2020) concluded its corruption investigation and published the names of 29 public officials, including ex-president Aziz. On 11 March, the state prosecutor formally charged 13 of these officials with bribery, money laundering, embezzlement, and obstruction of justice. Aziz was arrested and detained on 22 June. His lawyers claimed that his arrest was political vengeance without legal justification, while the government insisted that the judicial investigation and subsequent indictment represented an appropriate way for a genuinely independent judicial system to operate. The process challenged not only the elite’s impunity in general terms but, more specifically, presidential immunity and the limits of Article 93 in the country’s constitution, which protects presidents from prosecution. Among the other senior officials prosecuted were two former prime ministers, Yahya Ould Hademine (2014–18) and Mohamed Salem Ould Bechir (2018–19), and several former ministers and businessmen. Meanwhile, key Aziz antagonists, such as businessman Mohamed Ould Bouamatou, were able to reassert their influence.

Foreign Affairs

Mauritania continued to consolidate its economic relations with other African countries, also within the framework of suggested participation in the AfCFTA, which the country ratified in 2019. The agreement applied from 1 January 2021, but no trade took place during the year under the AfCFTA regime. Historically close relations with Gulf countries led to a favourable outcome in debt restructuring negotiations. In August, Kuwait restructured $ 82.7 m, and in October, Saudi Arabia agreed to suspend 30.6 m riyals of debt ($ 8.2 m). Diplomatic ties with Qatar (broken in 2017) were re-established in March, opening up the potential for large-scale economic support.

The Indian embassy in Nouakchott was established in June, and India extended Mauritania a $ 15 m credit targeted at agro-industries and $ 6.8 m targeted at drinking water projects, as well as $ 65.68 m for a solar–diesel hybrid rural electrification project. China maintained its position as the main trading partner (responsible for approximately 36% of exports and 6% of imports). In a meeting at the end of November with foreign minister Ismael Ould Cheikh Ahmed, his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi said that ‘China appreciates Mauritania’s adherence to the one-China principle and its support for China in safeguarding sovereignty and national dignity’.

The security situation in the Sahel region remained precarious. Sporadic jihadi activity in the Wagadou forest was reported, and in mid-July an incident in which armed men abducted three Chinese and two Mauritanian workers from a construction site in Nara, in south-western Mali close to the Mauritanian border, again indicated how fragile the situation was close to the Mauritania’s western border.

The G5 Sahel Joint Force, launched by Mali, Burkina Faso, Niger, Chad, and Mauritania in 2017, persisted as an actor in the fight against insecurity in Sahel area, but cooperation continued to be difficult due to inter-state tensions and distrust linked to fragile relations. Lack of financial resources reduced the force’s capacity to operate fully. Mauritania hosted the G5 Permanent Secretariat as well as the G5 Sahel Defence College, but the country has sent relatively few of its troops outside Mauritania. The issue of possible nato support for the G5 Sahel, e.g. through capacity building, was raised when President Ghazouani met nato secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg in Brussels on 14 January. Since 1995, Mauritania has had the status of a nato partner country. However, international actors’ commitments to the G5 Sahel have fluctuated depending on geopolitical circumstances and interests. European military support in the Sahel has for a long time been impugned, and on 14 June, French president Emmanuel Macron announced that France’s military mission in the Sahel – Operation Barkhane – would come to an end during 2022.

On the northern border, a precarious balance between Morocco and Algeria continued to be a challenge. At the beginning of the year, the Polisario Front (pf), the Western Sahara national liberation movement, carried out violent attacks at the border crossing in Guergarat, which links the disputed territory of Western Sahara with Mauritania. Tensions over the territory had been increasing since late 2020 after Moroccan troops removed pf supporters who had been blocking the road link into Mauritania. In August, foreign minister Ahmed met his Algerian and Moroccan counterparts for discussions on bilateral relations and regional issues. The initiative took place in the context of the breakdown of diplomatic relations between Algeria and Morocco in August. According to Ahmed, cooperation within the Arab Maghreb Union, which comprises Morocco, Algeria, Mauritania, Tunisia, and Libya, had been paralysed due to the crisis between Algeria and Morocco.

At the beginning of September, Prime Minister Mohamed Ould Bilal met Algerian foreign minister Ramtane Lamamra in Nouakchott for talks on how to strengthen bilateral cooperation, on challenges posed by the security situation in the Sahel, and on how to address these challenges under the auspices of the au. The construction of two Algeria–Mauritania land border posts was launched at the beginning of October to facilitate export to West African countries. At the end of December, President Ghazouani stated that the border post had doubled the volume of trade between the two countries. Mauritania also intended to sustain and boost relations with Morocco. On 6 August, Mauritania and Morocco signed an MoU in the sector of employment and vocational integration. Both small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as jobseekers, were expected to benefit from the agreement.

A new Fisheries Partnership Agreement (2021–26) between Mauritania and the EU was initiated on 28 July. The agreement replaces the previous one, in force since 2008, which had been extended several times. It commits the EU to devoting € 57.5 m per year and another € 16.5 m during the six-year period as sectoral support. On 21 September, Mauritania and the Seychelles announced their intention to cooperate within the fisheries sector. The Seychelles and Mauritania were the first two countries to hand in their reports to the Fisheries Transparency Initiative (FiTI), a global partnership initiative intended to increase transparency and the sustainable management of fisheries.

President Ghazouani participated on 18 December in the 3rd Turkey–Africa Partnership Summit in Istanbul, along with the Turkish president Recep Erdogan, heads of African countries, and the au. A wide range of opportunities for trade exchange and investment between the two sides were on the agenda.

Socioeconomic Developments

The previously optimistic economic outlook abated due to increasing uncertainty over the long-term impact of the continued Covid-19 pandemic. Business closures, curfews, and high levels of public spending on recovery projects seriously affected the country’s limited financial reserves. The imf estimated he gdp growth to be 3% (compared with −1.8% in 2020), based on data from October 2021), and the inflation rate was estimated to be 3.8% (compared with 2.3% in 2020). Household consumption was expected to gradually rebound as the Covid-19 vaccine rollout continued to progress. The undp Human Development Report 2022, based on data accessed on 10 November 2021, defined Mauritania as a low human development country on the threshold to medium human development. Mauritania continued to host a considerable number of refugees, with the unhcr reporting in September that 67,466 Malian refugees were being sheltered in the Mbere refugee camp and 8,747 asylum seekers in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou.

However, resumed support from international donors, macroeconomic stability, natural resources (iron ore, gold, copper), and fishery resources, as well as relatively significant domestic budgetary resources, constituted a solid basis for long-term attempts to tackle the weaknesses in an economy which is vulnerable to fluctuations in commodity prices, high unemployment, the limited formal economy, the relatively little arable land, and a high risk of exposure to volatile weather patterns. Mauritania received further support from the imf, in accordance with the ecf 2017–21. The World Bank continued to implement its Country Partnership Framework programme (2018–23).

The energy sector, especially hydrocarbons and renewable energy, continued to offer opportunities for fdi. The deep-water exploration and production company Kosmos Energy continued to explore the region’s oil and gas prospects and to develop the Grand Tortue Ahmeyim project. bp continued building a floating liquefied natural gas facility to tap into the field’s estimated 15 trillion cubic feet of gas. The field was expected to have a 30-year production potential, and it was expected to begin in 2022. Gold production and exports were expected to increase, despite a fire in June which disrupted operations at the Tasiast gold mine operated by Kinross Gold. Iron ore exports were expected to suffer due to a slowdown in Chinese demand. Copper exports were expected to be boosted by international prices and global demand.

The Covid-19 crisis disrupted economic activity, mainly due to poor performance in the field of fisheries and also within the service sector, which was harshly affected by the pandemic containment measures. These measures had a particularly severe impact on households, with approximately 75% of them reporting a drop in their employment income, most evidently in the cities of Nouakchott and Nouadhibou – areas highly dependent on service sector employment. The Covid-19 demand shock, followed by announcements that some foreign companies would probably exit Mauritania entirely, hit the country hard, but as a whole, the economic cost of the containment measures was less dramatic than in many other countries, thanks to a relatively limited service sector. The main activities in the country’s economy – agriculture and pastoralism, fisheries, and mining – could continue on a fairly normal basis despite the Covid-19 containment measures.

In January, Mauritania suffered a second wave of Covid-19, and in mid-January the government decided to maintain lockdown restrictions to combat the pandemic until mass vaccinations were available nationwide. By that time, there had been a total of 16,147 confirmed cases in Mauritania, including 405 deaths. By the end of the year, there had been 866 deaths and 41,000 reported cases. But due to limited access to testing facilities among rural communities, the officially reported data was not believed to show the complete picture.

Mauritania had received its first Covid-19 vaccine shipment in December 2020 through a bilateral agreement with China. Additional shipments arrived in the second quarter of 2021 through covax, led by the who.

In social networks, the vaccination campaign was surrounded by rumours about the dangers, and by June only around 30,000 people had been vaccinated and there was a risk that more than 100,000 doses would have to be destroyed. The authorities increased the number of vaccination sites, resulting in more than 900 vaccination sites being available in public places, mosques, ministries, and the entrances to bus stations. The number of vaccinations increased dramatically during the third wave of pandemic.

In early September, Mauritania became the twelfth country on the continent to reach the who’s goal of vaccinating at least 10% of its population by the end of September. By December, more than 714,000 people (27% of the population over 18 years) were fully vaccinated and 1,114,149 people (41 %) had received the first dose. But a significant part of the population was not expected to be vaccinated until mid-2022. The authorities set a goal of vaccinating 63% of the total population, altogether 2.7 m people over the age of 18, by mid-July 2022.

In October, an emergency medical team from the charity UK-Med through the who arrived to work in Nouakchott, Kaédi, and Kiffa. The deployment of this team followed a request from the Ministry of Health for support for the country’s efforts to manage severe cases of Covid-19 and help strengthening the skills of local medical teams. After having been hit by a third wave whose peak was reached in August, Mauritania experienced persistent intra-hospital deaths and challenges to the structure of management of critical cases. The arrival of the who team was seen as an opportunity to consolidate efforts to support the provision of emergency care.

On 18 October, a project implemented by the UN Environment Programme (unep) and supported by the Global Environment Facility (gef) to fight against encroaching desertification, which has damaged ecosystems and endangered species, announced that 200,000 hectares would be turned into a protected area to support biodiversity in the country. The area will be created in the district of Adrar and will link the El Ghallâouîya Key Biodiversity Area with the Guelb Er Richat Nature reserve in central Mauritania. It complements the Great Green Wall, a pan-African initiative stretching 8,000 kilometres across 11 countries, including Mauritania, which is an important part of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

At the beginning of November, the Chinguetti Manuscript, a world heritage collection of manuscripts consisting of over 700 items dating from 1699, was celebrated at the Tunis international book fair, with 300 Arab and other foreign publishing houses and 22 countries participating, and with Mauritania as the guest of honour.