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Western Africa. 754 kilometers of coastline on the Atlantic Ocean. Desert. Hot, dry and dusty. More than three times the size of New Mexico. Capital: Nouakchott.
Figures unless otherwise stated are from the CIA Factbook.
Factbook: "Half the population still depends on agriculture and livestock for a livelihood, even though many of the nomads and subsistence farmers were forced into the cities by recurrent droughts in the 1970s and 1980s. Mauritania has extensive deposits of iron ore, which account for nearly 40% of total exports. The nation's coastal waters are among the richest fishing areas in the world, but overexploitation by foreigners threatens this key source of revenue."
Estimated per capita GDP:
2008 $2,100
2007 $2,000
2006 $2,100
Food production has been rising since 1960, but because of population growth per capita food production has been declining.
Deaths: 11.61, down from 12.44 in 2005. Births: 40.14, down from 41.43 in 2005.
Estimated for July 2008: 3.365 million, up from 3.0 million in 2005. Growth rate estimated for 2008: 2.852 persons per year.
Infant mortality estimated for 2008: 66.65, down from 70.89 deaths before the age of one year, per 1,000 live births)
Average life expectancy at birth estimated for 2008: 53.91 ears up from 52.73 in 2005.
Living with HIV/AIDS, ages 15 to 49: 0.6 percent. (2003)
Males: 51.8 percent. Females: 31.9 percent. (2003)
100 percent Muslim
"Journalist detained for interviewing runaway slave." A young woman, Jabhallah Mint Mohamed, employed to tend sheep and goats, was receiving neither salary nor other kind of compensation, and she had been ill-treated by her "employers." She worked on an estate near Abokak, approximately 20 km from Mederdra. She had worked on the estate all of her life. Her parents had been slaves. After complaining to the local police she was escorted back to her "masters." Then she was set up in a neighboring town with her husband and children. (From the International Freedom of Expression Exchange, March 2005).
In Mauritania, newspapers may be banned for publishing material that "undermines" Islam or is perceived to threaten national security.
The president since 1984 -- more than 20 years -- Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, was overthrown on August 3 in a military coup led by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall. Many were tired of twenty years of repression under Taya, and thousands are reported to have "flocked into the streets" at news of the coup. Within hours of the coup, opposition parties gave it their backing. Shopkeepers have torn down the obligatory portrait of the former president, and the glowing praise that had for him they are now giving to the new military leaders. The African Union has suspended Mauritania until elections are held for a government to replace coup leaders. Vall and his military council have pledged to hold elections within two years and to forbid any of its member from standing for office in that election.
SOURCES:
http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/
http://www.ifex.org/
Copyright © 2008 by Frank E. Smitha. All rights reserved.