Islamic Republic Of Mauritania Research Articles

Conditions for health system resilience in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Mauritania

IntroductionA country’s ability to manage a crisis depends on its level of resilience. Efforts are made to clarify the concept of health system resilience, but its operationalisation remains little studied....

THE PHANTOM MENACE: FEAR, RUMOURS AND THE ELUSIVE PRESENCE OF AQIM IN SOUTHEASTERN MAURITANIA

Drawing on extended ethnographic fieldwork in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania (between 2001 and 2012), this article investigates how the intensifying regional insecurity is perceived and (re)acted upon by people inhabiting the frontier provinces of south-eastern Mauritania. It is argued that armed insurgencies and the emergence of nebulous assemblages such as the AQIM (Al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb), must be analysed as constitutive elements in a complex convergent crisis which is currently undermining local livelihoods in multiple ways. In Mauritania and much of the Saharan and Sahelian regions, crisis has become chronic, and while people exhibit tremendous capacities to anticipate the uncertain and navigate a disequilibrated natural and political environment in general, a new kind of protracted fear is spreading. This article establishes how the AQIM is enacted locally as a phantom menace, which asserts itself through a form of omnipresent fear, nurtured by an inherent opaqueness. As this fundamental fear progressively permeates the nomadic landscape, it engenders a recasting of mobile strategies among the nomadic pastoralist groups who inhabit the interstitial desert spaces.

Islamic Republic of Mauritania

This paper focuses on the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s Request for Disbursement Under the Rapid Credit Facility. The economic and social impact of the pandemic is rapidly unfolding, with a contraction of output expected in 2020. The authorities have responded swiftly with measures to contain the pandemic and alleviate its fallout. Going forward, prioritizing health spending and targeted support to the most vulnerable households and sectors in the economy remains critical. The authorities are committed to full transparency and reporting of resources deployed for the emergency response, to audit crisis-mitigation spending once the crisis abates, and to publish the results. At the same time, they remain committed to the economic reform program supported by the ongoing ECF arrangement with the IMF. The program aims at using the fiscal space to increase priority spending on education, health and social protection and infrastructure, while mobilizing domestic revenues and maintaining prudent borrowing policies to preserve debt sustainability.

The field of border control in Mauritania

Recent work on borders has tended to overlook border control actors, practices and rationalities in West Africa. States in this region are considered origin and transit countries for irregular migration, and the Sahel region that they straddle is widely seen as an emerging haven of terrorist activity. This article discusses one response to these migration and terrorism threats by the Islamic Republic of Mauritania: a programmme to build new border posts with help from global partners that include the European Union and the International Organization for Migration. The article builds on Bourdieusian approaches in critical security studies, but draws on concepts from actor-network theory to account for the heterogeneity of border control actors and the mobility of different knowledges about how to control borders. Drawing on ethnographic research in Mauritania, the article discusses four ‘actants’ of border security: the border posts, the landscape, the biometric entry–exit system and training practices. Throughout, the article highlights field dynamics of competition, cooperation and pedagogy, also emphasizing the role of non-human agency. The article concludes with a reflection on the link between border control and statebuilding, suggesting that this fusion is a broader paradigm of security provision in the global South.

Situational analysis of infant and young child nutrition policies and programmatic activities in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania.

Progress towards reducing mortality and malnutrition among children <5 years of age has been less than needed to achieve related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), so several international agencies joined to 'reposition children's right to adequate nutrition in the Sahel', starting with an analysis of current activities related to infant and young child nutrition (IYCN). The main objectives of the situational analysis are to compile, analyse, and interpret available information on infant and child feeding, and the nutrition and health situation of children <2 years of age in Mauritania as one of the six target countries (Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal). These findings are available to assist countries in identifying inconsistencies and filling gaps in current programming. Between August and November of 2008, key informants responsible for conducting IYCN-related activities in Mauritania were interviewed, and 46 documents were examined on the following themes: optimal breastfeeding and complementary feeding practices, prevention of micronutrient deficiencies, prevention of mother-to-child transmission of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), management of acute malnutrition, food security, and hygienic practices. Mauritania is on track to reaching the MDG of halving undernutrition among children <5 years of age by 2015. National policy documents, training guides, and programmes address nearly all of the key IYCN topics, specifically or generally. Exceptions are the use of zinc supplements in diarrhoea treatment, prevention of zinc deficiency, and dietary guidelines for preventing mother-to-child transmission of HIV. Substantial infrastructure capacity building was also recently implemented in nutritionally high-risk regions, and increases were reported in exclusive breastfeeding rates among children <6 months. The recent National Behaviour Change Communication Strategy is intended to address the needs of adapting programme activities to local needs. Despite these noteworthy accomplishments, the prevalence of acute malnutrition remains high, mortality rates did not decrease as malnutrition rates decreased, the overall prevalence of desirable nutrition-related practices is low, and human resources are reportedly insufficient to carry out all nutrition-related programme activities. Very little nutrition research has been conducted in Mauritania, and key informants identified gaps in adapting international programmes to local needs. Monitoring and evaluation reports have not been rigorous enough to identify which programme activities were implemented as designed or whether programmes were effective at improving nutritional and health status of young children. Therefore, we could not confirm which programmes might have been responsible for the reported improvements, or if other population-wide changes contributed to these changes. The policy framework is supportive of optimal IYCN practices, but greater resources and capacity building are needed to (i) support activities to adapt training materials and programme protocols to fit local needs, (ii) expand and track the implementation of evidence-based programmes nationally, (iii) improve and carry out monitoring and evaluation that identify effective and ineffective programmes, and (iv) apply these findings in developing, disseminating, and improving effective programmes.

Metallic ore deposits in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Metallic ore deposits in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Constructing Representations of the ‘Global War on Terror’ in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

(2007). Constructing Representations of the ‘Global War on Terror’ in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Journal of Contemporary African Studies: Vol. 25, No. 1, pp. 77-100.

Islamic Republic of Mauritania: Second Review Under the Staff Monitored Program and Request for a Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility: Staff Report; Staff Statement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Islamic Republic of Mauritania: Second Review Under the Staff Monitored Program and Request for a Three-Year Arrangement Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility: Staff Report; Staff Statement; Press Release on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Mauritania: A Saharan frontier-state

The key importance of the peripheral areas of a frontier-state should be self-evident. At the same time, the history of the geographic margins of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania largely explains their successive fluctuation and their recent location in a manner that, in legal terms, is definitive. In addition, Mauritania is balanced between North and South in Africa such that its identity as a bridge between Black Africa and the Arab World is open to question. One of the most interesting of such questions is to establish how the state has responded, in political, social and economic terms to the double threats of balkanisation and isolation which have dominated its history in contemporary and earlier times. In the North, the Saharan conflict and its potential outcome weigh heavily on the evolution of acute aspects of domestic and foreign policy. In the South and in the East, patterns of events are not self-evident and the social life of frontier regions – smuggling, conflict, communication and the dual loyalties of populations – provide them with an ambiguous nature that sometimes results in violence, as emerged in the conflict with Senegal. This article seeks to confront these issues both in general terms and in terms of their geopolitical and domestic significance for Mauritania. It will draw on historical research and current sociological investigation in analysing significant political events that have had an effect on contemporary Mauritania.

"The President Is Coming to Visit!": Dramas and the Hijack of Democratization in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Since 1989 research in comparative politics has focused largely on democratic tran sitions and consolidation. The entrenchment of semiauthoritarian regimes after the initial wave of political liberalization has yet to be thoroughly analyzed. The time is nigh to answer Brownlee's call to explore the tide after the third wave.1 Although regimes that have adopted initial democratic reforms while successfully maintaining an authoritarian core have stimulated scholarly interest, analysis has been restricted largely to formal political arenas, such as the manipulation of elec tions and subordination of the judiciary. However, the success of semiauthoritarian regimes does not rest only on the hijack of formal political arenas; it also depends on the symbolic and cultural efforts of incumbent authoritarian elites. This article ana lyzes the symbolic gestures of authoritarian elites during a presidential tour in an understudied country, the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Elites in Mauritania pre vented the regime from implementing the formal democracy it had espoused, while successfully adapting their exclusionary politics to conform to formal democratic rules. The democratic transitions initiated in 1989 caused significant political changes in Africa. The vast majority of African states instituted multiparty elections, backed by new democratic constitutions that in principle guaranteed fundamental civil and political rights. Countries such as South Africa, Benin, Ghana, and Mali demonstrate the potential for relatively stable democratization. Recent developments in countries such as Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, and even the once exemplary Zambia, however, point in quite a different direction. The phases following the initial formal democratization of their political institutions suggest a renewal of authoritarian ism.2 Theories of democratic transition and consolidation fail to account for such regimes, which comprise about half of all African governments.3 The analysis can not be limited to simply identifying the necessary factors for successful democrati zation that were missing?a weak civil society or low level of socioeconomic devel opment, for instance?but must also evaluate the active role played by authoritarian elites in subverting the democratic transition.

The Devonian of the Hodh area (Islamic Republic of Mauritania): Paleontology and stratigraphy

Paleontological study of 16 samples from four sections through the Silurian-Devonian marine deposits of the Hodh region establishes the development of the Middle Devonìan and adds to our knowledge of the Paleozoic sequence in the West African platform. Above Silurian deposits locally dated by graptolites from the Llandovery, Devonian shales yield an abundant although low diversity benthic fauna, which is assigned to a Givetian age. The brachiopod fauna shows strong affinity with the NE Americas Realm. Two new species are described,Arcuaminetes deynouxiandEleutherokomma monodi.The revision of the Devonian fauna of the Hodh area supports: 1) the apparent lack of Lower Devonian deposits; 2) the Givetian age of the Devonian succession; and 3) the strong eastern Americas Realm affinity of the fauna, as previously established for the Mauritanian Adrar area.

Islamic Republic of Mauritania: Sixth Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility and Request for Waiver of Criterion--Staff Report; News Brief on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

This paper focuses on the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s Sixth Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF) and a Request for Waiver of Performance Criterion. Performance under the PRGF-supported program remained strong in 2002. All the quantitative and structural performance criteria and benchmarks were met except for the publication of the audit of the central bank accounts, which was delayed for technical reasons. The IMF staff commends the authorities for bringing to a successful conclusion the current PRGF Arrangement and for their impressive record on macroeconomic stability and structural reforms.

Islamic Republic of Mauritania: 2002 Article IV Consultation, Fifth Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility; and Request for Waiver of Performance Criteria--Staff Report; Staff Statement; Public Information Notice and News Brief on the Executive Board Discussion; and Statement by the Executive Director for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

This paper focuses on the Islamic Republic of Mauritania’s 2002 Article IV Consultation, Fifth Review Under the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility (PRGF), and a Request for Waiver of Performance Criteria. Performance under the PRGF-supported program was solid in 2001, reflecting sound economic policies and greater ownership. Two of three structural performance criteria were met. The IMF staff supports the authorities’ macroeconomic policies for 2002 with emphasis on improved macroeconomic policy coordination, particularly monetary and exchange rate policies.

Rock deformation associated with the displacement of allochthonous units in the central segment of the Caledono-Hercynian Mauritanide belt (Islamic Republic of Mauritania and eastern Senegal)

At the boundary between Senegal and Mauritania (Western Africa), the Caledono-Hercynian Mauritanide belt shows different kinds of deformation, from a microscopic to a regional scale. The style and intensity of deformation, as well as the lithostratigraphical characters, allows one to define four main structural zones. Thrusts, folds and mylonitisation, which increase from east to west, were initiated and deformed in several stages, but always in the same stress field. So, the resulting deformations are regarded as related to the progressive ESE displacement of a set of nappes. It is suggested that the main tectonic event occurred between Silurian and Denovian. A last set of very rectilinear N-S folds occurring in the western part of the area of study is interpreted as the result of a main ductile sinistral wrench-fault system. This pattern is suggested to be the result of an oblique collision between the West African craton and microcontinents between the end of Panafrican and upper Palaeozoic, after a Panafrican extensive stage.

Mauritanian President's visit

On the occasion of his visit to Switzerland, H.E. Mr. Moktar Ould Daddah, President of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, called at the headquarters of the ICRC on 19 February 1974.

Water and Its Absence in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Water and Its Absence in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

International Centre For The Settlement Of Investment Disputes: Mauritania-Société Des Mines De Mauritanie Arbitration Clause Article 50 of the Long Term Convention of Establishment and Implementation between the Islamic Republic of Mauritania and Société des Mines de Mauritanie (S.P.M.I.N.A.)

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Trade Agreement Between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

Trade Agreement Between the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

The Racial Factor and Politics in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

The Racial Factor and Politics in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania

The Wealth of the Sahara

THE Sahara, comparable in size to the United States, is es sentially a land of minerals. Plants, animals and men, all live there artificially. The vast spaces, the heat, the lack of water and vegetation have combined over the centuries to make it a desert and a virtually impassable obstacle dividing Mediter ranean civilizations from the people of Black Africa. Today, how ever, modern techniques have enabled men to transform what was a natural barrier into an economic and social link between Europe and Africa. Why, how and by whom has this historic revolution been accomplished? My object here is to try to answer those questions. From the Atlantic westwards to Libya, from Algeria south to the frontiers of Nigeria, the Sahara covers 1,650,000 square miles of what we call the French Community. In this vast area the average rainfall each year is less than 4 inches. What is more, the precipitation is very irregular, so that two or three years may pass without a drop of water, followed by a tropical tornado which carries away everything in its wake. The variations in tempera ture are among the greatest in the world: a minimum of 21 ? F. in Tamanrasset and a maximum of 13Io F. in Timimoun. For the most part, the soil is composed of sand (pure quartz), dry crusts of marl, limestone and grit, and stones eroded by wind and vary ing temperatures. In the center is a huge, bare, crystalline moun tain, the Hoggar; in prehistoric times, when rain fell in that re gion, it served as a sort of water tower. Around this mountain can still be found a cobweb of river valleys, dried up for dozens of centuries. Such are the conditions under which, until recently, a very small population used to live?and live very badly. The Sahara is the least inhabited area on the globe except for the waste regions around the Poles. The greater part of the Sahara belongs to the French Com munity and is divided into two departments, directly connected to France, and four new states: the Republic of Chad, the Repub lic of Niger, the Republic of Sudan and the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. The 840,000 inhabitants of this huge area are eth nically either the descendants of prehistoric populations or of