Submission from Maria Bilal
On behalf of Mr Abdelkoudouss Abeidna I am writing
to thank you for meeting with him and discussing the current problems
Mauritania faces. He sent you an email from Mauritania last week,
however there have been problems with internet within the country
and so he has asked that I send this to you directly. He also
has asked me to send you photos and a synopsis of events that
have occurred since the coup d'etat last August.
On 6 August 2008, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
led a military coup d'etat to unseat the first democratically
elected President of Mauritania, Sisi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi.
The immediate cause of the coup d'etat was that the president
dismissed senior army officers who were working steadily behind
the scenes to destabilize the country. The President promulgated
and supported democratic legislation and reform, which undercut
the military's interstes, so the military struck back.
One of the spurious claims by the junta for
what they refer to as their "rectification" is that
the government of President Ould Cheikh Abdellahi was deadlocked
and unmable to operate. A stalemate, common to democratice institutions
everywhere, was used by the Mauritanian military as justification
to executie a coup d'etat.
The principal consequences of this military
takeover are:
— Mauritania today has a record budget
deficit ie 59.5 billion ouguiyas (in 2007, the deficit was 12
billion);
— 30 billion of this deficit was accrued
in the past nine months: even with a payment made by the EU for
fishing rights to the order of 86 million Euros;
— Freedom of expression is quashed;
— Economic indicators are at an all-time
low;
— Foreign investors have lost interest
in Mauritania;
— Diplomatic ties with Israel have
been severed;
— Diplomatic ties are strengthening
between Mauritania, Iran, Libya and Syria;
— Peaceful protests against the coup
are prohibited;
— Peaceful rallies are repressed by
violence—beatings, tear gas, imprisonment;
— Political prisoners are detained
in Mauritanian jails;
— Torture by security forces is the
preferred method of investigation and repression; and
— The public media is censored and
has become an instrument of propaganda and misinformation.
The current political tensions in Mauritania
must be resolved within a democratic framework in order to protect
Mauritania, once and for all, from the vicious cycle of military
coups that has plagued it since thee early 70's. This requires
that there be full restoration of Constitutional order. Before
the coup, Mauritania was engaged in a democratic experiment which
could have become a prototype for African and the Muslim World.
Furthermore, the West needs a voice of reason
in the Arab world. Mauritania's Islam is peaceful. The culture
of Mauritania is peaceful. Intellectual dissent—when not
suppressed by a military regime—is encouraged. Mauritania
will likely look to religious fundamentalism for its answers:
45% of the Mauritanian population is 14 years old or younger and
the average Mauritanian age is 17 years old. Democracy is the
best way to protect the country from Islamic violence: democracy
insures freedom of speech, freedom of assembly and equal rights
under the law.
We ask the British government to help by:
— supporting targeted sanctions against
the perpetrators of the coup d'etat: military and civilian individuals
who are impeding the return to democratic government;
— putting pressure on the UN Security
Council to execute their resolution detailing the necessary procedures
to restore democracy in Mauritania;
— continuing to work with the European
Union and the African Union to help anchor democratic values in
Mauritania.
Attached, please find an article and photos[20]
that portray how this military dictatorship has affected the women
of Mauritania.
1 June 2009
20 Not printed. Back
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