TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1778> <link 89TT1213> <title> Mauritania--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Northern Africa Mauritania </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> Tens of thousands of years ago, the Sahara regions were verdant and filled with game. Archeological evidence suggests that Berber and Negroid Mauritanians lived beside one another before the spread of the desert drove them southward. Migration increased in the third and fourth centuries A.D., when Berber groups arrived seeking pasture for their herds and safety from political unrest and war in the north. The use of the camel allowed Berbers to travel widely across the expanding desert and also supported the development of a caravan trade system throughout the region, which promoted the Berbers' loose Sanhadja confederation. Gold, slaves, and ivory going north was traded for salt, copper, cloth, and other items going south to Timbuktu and beyond. Important trading towns were established, and Islam spread along the trade routes. In the 10th century, conquests by warriors of the Soudanese Kingdom of Ghana broke up the confederation, which had become weakened by internal strife, and the Ghanians became the dominant force in the eastern and southern regions. In the 11th century, the conquest of the Western Sahara regions by a Berber tribe, which later spread into North Africa and Spain, destroyed the Ghanaian Kingdom, and firmly established Islam throughout Mauritania. These people were defeated by Arab invaders led by the Beni Hassan in the 16th century. Moors, who now inhabit Mauritania, are primarily of Berber stock, with some admixture of Arab and Negroid. Descendants of the Arab warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish society, and Arabic generally displace Berber dialects as the language of the country. Beneath the Hassan tribes, but often effectively their social equals, were the Marabout tribes, whose leading figures served as the repositories and teachers of Islamic tradition. Some of the more important Marabouts (holy men) founded religious brotherhoods, whose influence extended well beyond their tribe. A few of these brotherhoods still have considerable followings as far as Senegal, Guinea, Mali, and the Maghreb (North Africa). French military penetration of Mauritania began early in the 20th century, but the area was not brought fully under French control until about 1934. Until independence, the French governed the country largely by relying on the authority of the tribal chiefs, some of whom, such as the Emirs of Trarza and Adrar, had considerable authority. Under French occupation, slavery was legally abolished, and the payment of tribute was reduced or eliminated. French occupation also led to a return of sedentary Negroid peoples across the Senegal River into southern Mauritania, an area from which they had been expelled gradually in earlier years by the warlike Moorish nomads. Conflict between Moor and non-Moor ethnic groups centering on language, land tenure, and other issues is an important theme in Mauritanian history since independence. A French protectorate over "the Moorish country" was proclaimed in 1903, and Mauritania became a French colony in 1920. Its area was increased substantially in 1945, when the Hodh region of French Soudan (now Mali) was administratively transferred to Mauritania. Certain parts of this territory were ceded back to Mali in territorial adjustments in 1964. As a member of the French West African Federation, Mauritania participated in the postwar social and political progress of the French colonies. Its elected officials gained wide authority early in 1957 as a result of the Overseas Reform Act (Loi Cadre), and Mauritania entered the French Community as an autonomous but not fully sovereign state after the French constitutional referendum in September 1958. The Islamic Republic of Mauritania was proclaimed in November 1958, and shortly thereafter, the process of transferring Mauritania's administrative services from Saint-Louis, Senegal, to the new capital of Nouakchott was begun. Mauritania became independent in 1960. In June 1961, it signed agreements with France defining postindependence relations with the former metropole. Mauritania withdrew from the French Community in 1966. From independence until 1978, Mauritania was governed by a civilian regime dominated by Moktar Ould Daddah, a white Moor lawyer from the Boutilimit region, who became the country's first and only civilian president. Ould Daddah achieved some international stature as one of the first generation of leaders of independent African states. He emphasized Mauritania's Arab heritage and moved the country toward a nonaligned stance in international affairs. In 1973, foreign interests (primarily French) in Mauritania's iron ore mining industry were nationalized, and Mauritania withdrew from the franc zone. Ould Daddah created a single-party regime in which the official Mauritanian People's Party coopted or suppressed all open political opposition. He fell from power when his agreement to involve Mauritania in the partition of the former Spanish Sahara led to military defeat in the Western Sahara conflict. The bloodless coup, which ended the Ould Daddah regime in July 1978, ushered in a succession of military governments. Mauritania's constitution was suspended, and the National Assembly and the Mauritanian People's Party were dissolved. After several "palace coups" in 1979, the Military Committee for National Salvation (CMSN) was established, and Lt. Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla emerged as the leading military figure and chief of state. As drought and economic problems mounted in the early 1980s, the CMSN became increasingly ineffectual, repressive, and corrupt. Haidalla's policy of friendship with the Polisario guerrillas, culminating in official Mauritanian recognition of the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic in early 1984, also elicited strong opposition. On December 12, 1984, Chief of Staff, Lt. Col. Maayouia Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, led a bloodless coup that ousted Haidalla. Most members of the CMSN remained in government, although many were given different responsibilities or sent into exile. Taya has made a number of significant policy changes in the 2 years since the coup. He has revamped economic policy, carried out a meaningful political liberalization, and moved to a neutral position on the Western Sahara conflict. Since then, economic performance has improved; first-ever elections for municipal councils were held in December 1986; and relations with Morocco have been normalized. Ethnic tensions surfaced in the second half of 1986, as the regime dealt harshly with Toucouleur dissidents, sentencing about 35 to long prison terms. Current Political Conditions Mauritania is governed by a military junta, the CMSN. All military officers who hold important positions in the defense establishment or ministerial portfolios are de jure members of the committee. Currently, there are 23. The chairman of the committee is the chief of state. Members vary considerably in age, rank, and influence. Influence depends upon a complex of factors, such as control over resources, perceived ability or integrity, and tribal, ethnic, family, and personal considerations. The chief of state, though very powerful, must command at least the tacit support of a majority of the junta's senior members to govern effectively. The CMSN presides over a bureaucracy composed of traditional ministries, special agencies, and parastatal companies. Civilians hold most economic and technical portfolios. The Ministry of Interior controls a system of regional governors and prefects modeled on the French system of local administration. Decisionmaking is tightly centralized in Nouakchott. More recently, in a move toward democratization, the regime permitted the election of municipal councils and mayors in Nouakchott and regional capitals. Their relationship to the central authorities remained undefined as of mid 1987. Political parties and debate have been formally banned since the 1978 coup. Nevertheless, a good deal of secret political activity continues, particularly in the labor and student federations. Various brands of Arab nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism, and Marxism are represented among small groups of activists and intellectuals. Ethnic conflict sometimes takes a political form, and a shadowy organization claiming to represent Mauritanians of African culture is believed to exist. The current government espouses a modernist, largely secular, ideology of progress, education, literacy, and national unity. It has created a grassroots organization known as the "Structures for the Education of the Masses" to mobilize support for its policies. The regime emphasizes its attachment to Islam by symbolic gestures, such as vigorous enforcement of anti-alcohol laws. In late 1986, the government permitted elections for municipal councils in Nouakchott and regional capitals. These were the first contested elections in Mauritania's history. Although the terms of debate were strictly limited to municipal issues, the elections saw the emergence of quasipolitical formations, the two most important of which could be roughly described as "progressive" and "conservative." Local elections could possibly be held in departmental centers in 1987 or 1988. For administrative purposes, Mauritania is divided into 13 regions (wilayas) and one district (Nouakchott). Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, October 1987. </body> </article> </text>