Reports continue to emerge of copy-cat self-immolations, or suicide by fire, across North Africa in Egypt, Algeria and Mauritania. These come following the self-immolation of Mohammad Bouazizi which sparked the protests in Tunisia that led to the overthrow of Tunisian President Ben Ali. Dr. Michael Biggs and John L Esposito state that self-immolations are rare in the Middle East both historically and in modern times; emphasizing these events signal a drastic new ...

After nearly a year of slow but visible gains in U.S. approval throughout the Arab world, the latest iteration of Gallup polling shows significant declines in four of the six states surveyed -- perhaps reflecting what some have recently identified as a rather acute disappointment with what they see as a gap between Obama administration rhetoric and action. Egypt experienced the steepest fall from a two-year high of 37 percent approval last fall to 19 percent ...

Following an appeal by 32 opposition members of parliament, a constitutional court declared that ten articles of Mauritania's new terrorism law -- instituted to combat Al Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb -- are illegal under Mauritanian law. The unconstitutional provisions allow for, among other things, "preventive detention of terrorist suspects for 15 days and recording of telephone conversations and their e-mails and those of persons connected with them." Although Prime ...

Today's Wall Street Journal featured a profile by Khalid Lum of Hanevy Ould Dahah, a journalist in Mauritania who was arrested last June days after his website published photos and video showing agent's of Mauritanian President General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz corrupting the presidential election. The government officially charged the journalist and founder of the progressive Taqadoumy.com site with posting material that was "contrary to Islam and decent behavior." Though Dahah's sentence was completed in December, officials ...

A revealing report by the The Arab Reform Initiative highlights the previous two decades of constitutional reform in the Arab world, and examines both the underlying catalyst for "democratic shifts" and the future direction of these reforms within five countries: Morocco, Bahrain, Egypt, Algeria, and Mauritania.Though the report, written by Amina El Messaoudi, recognizes the unique internal circumstance of each country's process toward reformation, it uncovers several thematic similarities across the Arab community. More ...

NATO has decided to resume full cooperation with Mauritania after ties were suspended following a coup by now-President Mohamed Ould Abdul Aziz, while the IMF and European Union are strongly considering following suit.  Al Arabiyya is reporting that NATO cited the recent presidential elections for re-engaging the Islamic state, but opponents complain that the August election was fraudulent. Fatimetou Mint Ahmed Jiddou released a statement saying violence against women is increasing ...

Mauritania's newly elected President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz announced the formation of his government, which will include Naha Mint Hamdi Ould Mouknass as Foreign Minister as well as five other female appointees.  Mouknass, who will be the country's first female Foreign Minister, leads a the Union for Democracy and Progress, a pro-Aziz party founded by her father, a former Foreign Minister, reports al-Arabiya.

In the year since a military coup usurped Mauritania's first democratically elected government, the Mauritanian opposition has maintained its momentum in large part due to a perception of solidarity from the U.S., writes Kal at the Moor Next Door Blog. This perception was fed by American endorsement of a "return to constitutional order" after the coup, as well as the rejection of coup leader and interim government president General Ould ...

The UNDP released its new Arab Human Development Report today, which includes insights from Arab intellectuals, reform practitioners and youth. This year’s report, entitled Challenges to Human Security in the Arab Countries, notes that “fault lines” in the region have deepened since the release of the first such report in 2002, and that a lack of human security has become a primary factor inhibiting human development. One relevant chapter of the ...

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who led the coup against Mauritania's first democratically elected leader last August, has won the country's presidential election, the government confirmed yesterday. Aziz swept 52.4 percent of the vote in the first round. The opposition--some of whom expressed fears about vote rigging before the election--cried foul. His rivals released a statement calling on observers to not validate the results, due to tampering ...

Last week, the National Democratic Institute released an informative Bulletin providing comprehensive coverage of Mauritania's upcoming elections and the political dynamics behind the country's turbulent road to democracy.  An upheaval of Mauritania's first elected government last August led to the formation of a national unity government in June, which will hold elections this Saturday and ensure transparency.  The Bulletin reports that polling in Mauritania shows the top four candidates pitted ...

Five days before Mauritanians head to the ballot box in the first election since a coup overthrew the country's first elected government, Alex Thurston questions whether the power of incumbent leader General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz will ensure his victory or if Mauritania's desperate need for international legitimacy (in the wake of last year's coup and a history of rife corruption) will reinforce the need for clean elections. None of the candidates ...

The Moor Next Door blog has a comprehensive account of internal dynamics behind Mauritania's upcoming elections. Focusing on presidential candidate Messoud Boulkheir, the article follows his slave origins and Obamaesque rise to the Mauritanian political landscape. His supporters--elites, white Moors, and Haratines (Arabophone black Mauritanians descended from slaves)--admire his emphasis on social justice and commitment to all Mauritanians. Despite being an election "kingmaker" in 2007, Boulkhier now runs a "transformative" ...

A coup in 2005 led to Mauritania's first elections in 2007, yet the political scene was marred by corruption leading to a coup last August, which usurped the country's first democratically elected president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Sheikh Abdallahi. Mauritania will once again hold elections on July 18.  The poll was initially scheduled for June 6, yet a dispute between the military junta and political parties delayed the establishment of an ...

Foreign Policy has released its 2009 annual Failed States Index, which is a timely analysis of how a "virulent economic crisis, countless natural disasters, and government collapse" have affected states across the world, writes FP.  The global economic crisis, predicts FP, may have provided a combustible environment for state failure in many countries, which draws policy implications for the UN, World Bank and U.S. about who--and how--to help. Middle Eastern states ...

Mauritania's strongest opposition movement, the Union of Democratic Forces (RFD) has announced the candidacy of its leader, Ahmad Ould Daddah, for president in the country's July 18 elections. Mauritania's first democratically elected government was overtaken by a coup last year. The Daily Star reports that Ould Daddah and the coup's leader General Mohammad Ould Abdel-Aziz are favorites to win the election.  Ely Ould Mohammad Vall, the country's leader between 2005 ...

Elections scheduled for tomorrow in Mauritania have been postponed in order to form a transitional government and encourage broader participation.  The Daily Star reports that this agreement is the first step for Mauritania's recognition by the international community after General Mohammad Ould Abdel-Aziz overturned the first democratically elected government in August 2008. Mauritania has been pressured by international actors to restore constitutional rule under fair elections, which will be scheduled ...

While Mauritania will hold elections on June 6, no major opposition figures will participate and the election of General Muhammad Ould Abdel-Aziz, who led the August 2008 coup, is nearly certain. In The Daily Star, Christopher Boucek outlines how Mauritanian politics are dominated by military personalities despite calls from opposition parties that military officers involved in coups not be permited to stand for office. Such calls may have led to ...

Be sure to check out the latest edition of the Carnegie Endowment's Arab Reform Bulletin. This issue includes discussion of a possible re-birth for Fatah, the odds of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood running in next year's parliamentary elections, the June presidential election in Mauritania, judicial reform in Saudi Arabia, and improving education in the UAE.

On POMED's Morocco country page, James Liddell discusses a new report by the Potomac Institute and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) on why and how the U.S. should promote regional cooperation in the Maghreb region of North Africa.