Hamadou Tidiane Sy
24 September 2008
analysis
Dakar — An ambush mid-September against the national army in which at least 10 Mauritanian soldiers were killed is fuelling new speculation about the country's future and its ability to fight this latest Al Qaeda problem.
But, a number of questions arise: Has Mauritania really become a prime target of Al Qaeda and other radical groups?
Isn't the country heading to chaos following the military coup which on August 6 toppled elected president Sidi Mohmaed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi?
Can General Mohamed Ould Abd El Aziz achieve the "reforms" he promised when he set up the Higher State Council which replaced the democratically elected president?
These questions have been on the agenda since the very early days of the coup which was perpetrated by the army generals.
Days after the attack, troops from the national army were still engaged in operations in the northern area where it took place, the authorities in Nouakchott said.
And before the attack, Nouakchott the capital was put on alert, fearing an offensive by some terrorist group, some local sources said.
Due to its geographical position partly in the midst of the Sahara desert and due to the composition of its population, made of "white" moors and "black" Africans, Mauritania is a mixed nation and a sort of "buffer zone" between the Arab and the black parts of the continent.
For long, this double heritage has put the country in the weird and uncomfortable position where it faces both the challenges of the African nations and those of the Arab world.
At the same time, this situation has been the source of a continued internal strife and conflicts within the country, with serious repercussions in the nation building process and its political and social stability.
Mauritania has retained a culture of coup d'Etat and lack of good leadership, as many other African nations have faced since independence. To date Mauritania stands amongst the worst examples in terms of democratic leadership.
In Mauritania, where the first military coup was carried way back in 1978, using the guns to come to power has been and remains the rule and the ballot box the exception. By all standards, the nation remains largely a "coup prone" country.
This is from the African heritage.
From the Arab world, Mauritania has kept a tradition of slavery and racial segregation, with a powerful aristocracy made of religious families always busy making alliances to control the central power.
The country's modern history and the colonial past have not given the opportunity for any formal and strong kingdom to emerge and to prosper as in other Arab nations, such as neighbouring Morocco for instance.
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