Government

Right now the government is in a bit of a transition shall we say. If you haven’t heard, the first democratically elected President of Mauritania (Sidi wel Abdulahi) was ousted in the beginning of August in a bloodless military coup. Before the elections for the President, there were a series of coups that culminated in a military junta taking power to organize elections. Although there is a history of coups as the primary means of transition in the government here since independence (1960s); fortunately, the coups are almost always non-violent. President Sidi wel Abdulahi served just over a year before he was ousted (elected in March 2007). Basically, the President tried to fire some high ranking military officers, who in turn overthrew the President within days. The Prime Minister was also taken out of office, and these positions have been replaced with a military council at the moment. They have promised to hold elections “soon”, however have not set a date as of yet. I would also like to mention a comment one of our facilitators said to us regarding the nature of the coup. He said that it’s nothing more than a family spat that will pass. You see the military helped get the President elected, and he couldn’t have been elected without their support. Now they don’t want him, so they took care of it.

So I guess that right there begs the question of what is the definition of a “democratically elected” President?

Reactions to the coup:
Generally speaking, Mauritanians did not like the President – they said he did not accomplish much. However there was a camp of people who did not support the coup. They either supported the President (very small number from what I can ascertain), or they were pro-democracy. The people in the latter camp generally did not support the President, but did not like the idea of reverting back to the series of coups as a means of change in government.

Now moving on to the reactions from the international community. Both the EU and US were very quick to condemn the coup as unconstitutional, and pushed for a swift re-installation of the ousted government. The US quickly withdrew all non-humanitarian aid to Mauritanian pending the return to the democratically elected government, and the EU currently has an ultimatum on the table to follow suit. Here in my town, there was a unit of US Marines that was pulled out as soon as this all happened. The AU (African Union) has also joined in the chorus with the international community, and issued an ultimatum that expired on the 6th of October. There was not really any consequence tied to the ultimatum, it was just to help re-instate the democratically elected President. Needless to say, President Sidi wel Abdulahi has not yet returned to the head of government… not only that, but there is still no date for elections.

Demonstrations:
Immediately following the coup the government staged various support marches throughout the country in many cities that were subsequently aired on national TV. It’s hard to say if people who participated actually supported the coup, or just wanted to be on the “winning side”. One man I knew initially was in the pro-democracy camp, where he didn’t approve of the coup, but also didn’t like the President. Later, when the marches came to Rosso, he participated. He was also someone who was quite high up in the local government, and so I’m not sure if he was expected to participate.

There have also been demonstrations against the coup as well, but much smaller in number. There are a few that have actually made the headlines. The first main one was in Nouadibou where the ex-Prime Minister (who had been released from house arrest) lead a protest. He was captured again and put under house arrest a second time. Right before the October 6th deadline set by the AU to return to democracy, the military council got wind of a rather large demonstration being planned on the eve of the expiration date. They subsequently placed a ban on all anti-coup demonstrations. The police actually used tear gas and batons to break up the demonstration.

The most recent news regarding the coup is that the leader of the military junta has said that he does not intend to stay in power indefinitely, but that is all that I’ve heard.

So all in all, the National government right now is in the process of a major change, and I’m not sure what the outcome will be here. I try to follow it as best as I can, but I only get to check the internet a few times a week, and then there’s not always much new in developments. If you would like more information on the coup and events, Reuters or Google News both have excellent coverage of pretty much any event happening here in Mauritania.

Now to local Government:
Mauritania is divided into 13 regions, each with a regional capital. I am serving in the region of Inchiri, in the capital of Akjoujt. Each region has a Wali (Governor – appointed by the central government) who oversees all regional administrative tasks. This would include, but not be limited to, the Gendearmies, (police/military type units that have checkpoints along the roads – main use is to control traffic into and out of major cities), and the DREN (National organization for Education – although it is Nation-wide, the Wali will oversee the organization in each specific region). It is interesting to note that there were 2 Walias (women) of the 13 total, however that makeup has changed slightly in the last week. We had a walia here in Inchiri, however a man replaced her.

Under the Wali(a) is the Hakem. This is another appointed official who is in charge of affairs of the prefecture (a sub-region). Basically the Hakem does the same thing the Wali does, but on the prefecture level, and reports to the Wali.

Next we have the office of the Mayor. In any given city there may be a number of Mayors. There is the main one, and then a number of Adjuons (vice mayors – 1st, 2nd, 3rd, etc.) As in the US, the Mayor is directly responsible for the affairs of the city (water, sanitation, etc.) and is elected. As the mayor is an elected official, many times they will be in the capital Nouakchott because they have more political ties than the appointed Wali or Hakem. That is why there are so many vice mayors. When one is out of town for work or whatever the case may be, you work your way down the ladder to talk to who is there.

With the coup these positions and functions have remained unchanged.

I’m not very familiar yet with the government after that point here in this town, however in Rosso, after the Mayor there were a variety of neighborhoods that were organized with leaders as well. From what I could gather, each neighborhood had a sort of “chiefton” who represented them to the mayor’s office and also helped organize cooperatives and distributing supplies for those cooperatives.

For us, we have to go and talk to one, maybe all of these people in order to get projects approved (depending on the project). It will also matter the order in which you go and see the people. Generally speaking if you need to see all three VIPs (Wali, Hakem, and Mayor), you need to first see the Wali, then Hakem, then mayor (and so on down the totem pole if applicable). Fortunately I only have 2 projects that require the visits (my English classes for the community and math class at an elementary school).

I’m sorry I can’t be more specific at this time, but please email me (Katie.jajtner@gmail.com) with any questions you might have. I’ve been having some troubles with viewing/responding to comments on the blog right now, so just shoot me an email instead. Thanks!