Mauritania
Political unrest in Mauritania

Misanet.com / IRIN, 2 November - Demonstrations against the Mauritanian government have mounted in the past week over the Israeli-Palestinian crisis and the banning of a popular Mauritanian opposition party. 

The dual nature of recent demonstrations poses a complicated problem for the government of President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. A protest last Friday by the banned Union des forces democratiques - Ere Nouvelle (UFD-EN) drew some 15,000 people into the streets of the coastal town of Nouadhibou, about 350 km north of the capital Nouakchott. 

"This party has become very popular and they can mobilise a lot of people, particularly around this issue of Palestinians and refugees," Cheikh Saad Bouh Kamara, president of the Mauritanian Association of Human Rights, told IRIN on Thursday. 

Demonstrations have also taken place in Nouakchott. Youths clashed with Mauritanian security forces on Wednesday and at least four people were detained. They were released on Thursday, Kamara said. 

Mauritania, an Islamic state, established ties with Israel in 1999.

Government bans opposition party
The government on Saturday banned the UFD-EN, which is led by former presidential candidate Ahmed Ould Daddah. Despite elections, Mauritanians have not been able to choose their leaders freely and fairly. Officials said they banned the opposition party for fomenting violence and acting against the interests of the country. 

"The political party known as the Union of Democratic Forces-New Era, under the leadership of Ahmed Ould Daddah, will be dissolved ... for harming the reputation and interests of the country, inciting intolerance and violence, and inciting demonstrations in order to disturb public order, peace and security," the Interior Ministry said on state-run radio.

It said property of the party, which emerged in 1991, would be confiscated. AFP reported that the government's action stemmed from comments Ould Daddah made on Friday at an anti-Israel demonstration in the north of the country.

A coalition of opposition parties on Monday condemned the dissolution of the UDF, AFP reported. The report said that police had occupied the party's offices, from where a protest march was scheduled to begin on Monday. 

Ould Daddah rejected the government's action. He has suffered persistent harassment by Mauritanian authorities, including occasional detention, and demonstrations by his supporters have been broken up by security forces. Ahmed Taya came to power in 1984 as chairman of a military regime and twice won presidential elections that were not considered free or fair. 

 

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