Mauritania election: Jihadist, migration, slavery the key issues

As Mauritanians head to the polls within the presidential election, the nation faces a large number of points together with a legacy of navy coups, migration, jihadist assaults in neighbouring international locations and a harrowing legacy of slavery.

President Mohamed ould Cheikh Ghazouani, who has been in energy because the nation’s first democratic transition in 2019, is looking for a second and closing time period.

Six different candidates are difficult him for the highest job.

This election is a litmus take a look at of Mauritania’s burgeoning democracy and an indicator of how nicely it’s progressing on its path to larger political openness.

When former President Mohamed ould Abdel Aziz stepped down in 2019 after his tenure, it heralded a brand new period for a rustic that had endured a number of navy coups and authoritarian rule.

“Mauritania has the strongest democratic credentials within the Sahel at current, which given its historical past of coups is kind of stunning,” Joseph Hammond, iDove Fellow on the African Union, instructed the BBC.

A type of hoping to be Mauritania’s subsequent chief is Biram ould Dah ould Abeid, who got here second within the 2019 elections.

Mr Abeid’s grandparents had been slaves and he has spent a lot of his life campaigning towards the follow.

He has been arrested and imprisoned through the years due to his work as president of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Motion (IRA).

Slavery stays a delicate challenge in Mauritania, which was the final nation on this planet to outlaw slavery, in 1981.

“My father fought towards pro-slavery all his life. I swore to my father that I’d combat with out ever compromising. I’d combat slavery and people who help it,” Mr Abeid instructed the BBC in 2016.

It has been abolished within the nation thrice, however hundreds of black Mauritanians nonetheless stay as unpaid home servants, whereas anti-slavery activists face repression.

An estimated 149,000 persons are enslaved in Mauritania – about 3% of the inhabitants, in accordance with the World Slavery Index (GSI) in 2023.

Migration is one other sizzling matter challenge that can be on voters’ minds as they head to the polls.

Mauritania is a key transit level for migrants attempting to achieve Europe from West Africa, with hundreds of boats departing from the nation final yr.

In April, the European Union granted Mauritania €210m (£177m; $225m) in support – virtually €60m of which can be invested within the combat towards unlawful immigration to Europe.

Corruption additionally continues to be a serious drawback in Mauritania.

Former President Aziz was jailed for 5 years for illicit enrichment and embezzlement and is disqualified from standing within the election.

The nation is wealthy in numerous pure assets like iron, gold, phosphate and is an upcoming market within the oil sector in Africa, but virtually 59% of the inhabitants lives in poverty, in accordance with the United Nations.

It additionally has big potential in renewable power – notably inexperienced hydrogen. This type of power might finally present a cleaner various to fossil fuels and play a job within the nation’s carbon-free power transition.

Traders from Europe, Asia, and the Center East, notably the United Arab Emirates, intention to make Mauritania an power hub for inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing, in accordance with the Africa Heart for Strategic Research.

President Ghazouani has additionally campaigned on the significance of the nation’s safety.

Mauritania is within the Sahel area, the semi-arid strip of land south of the Sahara desert, which is a hotbed of jihadist exercise, however the nation has been typically freed from assaults since 2011.

Its neighbour, Mali, nonetheless continues to battle with repeated jihadist assaults.

Analysts have partially credited President Ghazouani, whose lengthy profession within the military and safety providers has given him a deep understanding of the jihadist challenges going through the Sahel area.

President Ghazouani has developed an in depth alliance with Western companions like France and the US, however has additionally been cautious to maintain ties with its military-run neighbours like Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, who’ve shunned Western affect not too long ago, studies the AFP information company.

Head of the US Africa Command, Gen Michael Langley, mentioned Mauritania has had a “longstanding” position in countering terrorism and stopping violent extremism within the Sahel.

Cheikhani Khlil, communication professor at Mauritania’s Lebanese Worldwide College, instructed the BBC President Ghazouani has allied Mauritania with the US to fight the assaults.

“There’s continued coaching performed by US particular forces for Mauritanian particular forces models to safe nationwide borders, which reinforces the tactical capabilities and fight readiness of our armed forces,” he mentioned.

Analysts say that as an vital participant in regional safety, Mauritania’s means to proceed this management position relies upon to a major extent on an efficient and peaceable switch of energy that results in a steady authorities.