Nearly 2 million people go to the polls on Saturday in Mauritania, a vast desert nation in West Africa which positions itself as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence, but has been denounced for rights abuses.President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani,...
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — Nearly 2 million people go to the polls on Saturday in Mauritania, a vast desert nation in West Africa which positions itself as a strategic ally of the West in a region swept by coups and violence, but has been denounced for rights abuses.
Ghazouni faces seven opponents, among them Biram Dah Abeid, an anti-slavery activist who is a candidate for the third consecutive time, leaders of several opposition parties and a neurosurgeon. Ghazouni used his electoral campaign to highlight Mauritania's security commitments, a message that experts believe is addressed first to the military juntas in neighboring countries and the Russian mercenaries from the Wagner Group present in the region, but also to the jihadi groups, which have carried out incursions into Mauritanian villages.
Mauritania is rich in natural resources such as iron ore, copper, zinc, phosphate, gold, oil and natural gas. Yet almost 60% of the population lives in poverty, according to the United Nations, working as farmers or employed in the informal sector. There are few economic opportunities for young people, with many attempting to cross the Atlantic to get to Europe.
Mauritania outlawed slavery in 1981, the last country in the world to do so. But the practice continues, human rights groups said, with around 149,000 people in modern slavery in this nation of less than 5 million, according to the 2023 Global Slavery Index.
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