MAURITANIA: Water treks grow longer, rougher
BOURA, 2 January 2009 (IRIN) - As water captured in village wells during the 2008 rainy season runs out or dries up, residents in southern Mauritania are spending more time and travelling farther in their hunt for water. Water gatherers in Boura village, 400km southeast of the capital Nouakchott, told IRIN January means the start of longer water treks.
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MAURITANIA: Child marriage tradition turns into trafficking
NOUAKCHOTT, 9 December 2008 (IRIN) - Marrying off Mauritanian girls as young as six years old to men in Gulf states is turning into a profitable trafficking enterprise as a typically rural marriage practice migrates to the city, according to urban families.
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MAURITANIA: Prisoner confessions extracted through torture says Amnesty International
NOUAKCHOTT, 3 December 2008 (IRIN) - Mauritanian security forces have until recently been extracting prisoner confessions through torture - including sleep deprivation, cigarette burns, suspension from a metal bar, electric shocks, sexual violence, physical blows and psychological abuse – according to Amnesty International.
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MAURITANIA: Desertification threatens to wipe out livelihoods, communities
NOUAKCHOTT, 2 December 2008 (IRIN) - Environmental degradation, responsible for the dangerous displacement of sand dunes in Mauritania, has wiped out homes, livestock and livelihoods throughout the desert country. An October UN study estimated that land degradation costs nearly US$200 million annually in potential revenue losses and health care expenses.
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MAURITANIA: Military launches anti-terrorist units amid donor cutbacks
ATAR, 28 November 2008 (IRIN) - Mauritanian army leaders are cautioning donors that have cut military aid after a 6 August coup that the country’s military cannot fight suspected terrorists alone, and that northern communities may pay the price for lack of preparedness.
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MAURITANIA: Thousands of returnees await legal status
BOYINGEL THILLE, 26 November 2008 (IRIN) - The Mauritanian government has promised thousands of repatriated citizens waiting for their residency papers for nearly a year that they will receive identity cards by year’s end.
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MAURITANIA: Donors on standby while EU considers next step
NOUAKCHOTT, 20 November 2008 (IRIN) - One month after setting a deadline for Mauritania's coup leaders to restore constitutional order or face sanctions, the European Union said the junta’s efforts have been “insufficient” and that the EU will examine “appropriate measures,” according to a 20 November statement by France’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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WEST AFRICA: Remittances set to fall in 2009
DAKAR, 11 November 2008 (IRIN) - For the first time in over a decade remittances to sub-Saharan Africa are set to fall in 2009, increasing people’s vulnerability to poverty, officials at the World Bank say. Remittance income in developing countries is expected to decline by about 1 percent from 2008 to 2009.
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MAURITANIA: Coup members face one-month sanctions ultimatum
DAKAR, 20 October 2008 (IRIN) - Following a meeting between Mauritania’s junta leaders and the European Union in Paris, EU officials have given the military officials one month to show how they will restore constitutional order, or sanctions will take effect. Coup leaders – who have refused to release President Sidi Mohammed Cheikh Ould Abdallahi – and donors are entering their 10th week of a sanction standoff. At stake is about US$500 million in development and military assistance.
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MAURITANIA: Repatriated refugees returning to Senegal
DAKAR, 20 October 2008 (IRIN) - Dozens of young Mauritanians recently repatriated from Senegal are crossing back over into long-time refugee communities because schools in Mauritania are not ready to take them in, according to the youths.
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