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Malian refugee refuses forced marriage in favour of school

Malian refugee refuses forced marriage in favour of school

Sitting in her family tent in Mauritania’s Mbera refugee camp, 12-year-old Fatimata concentrates intently as she draws a flower on her school notebook. Behind her are piled the mattresses and blankets that were to be her dowry, had she not resisted her family’s attempt to forcibly marry her off to a cattle-herding cousin in her […]

Fed to Wed: An ancient tradition of force-feeding girls in Mauritania

Fed to Wed: An ancient tradition of force-feeding girls in Mauritania

From a very young age girls in Mauritania are put on a strict diet. Its intention is to help them achieve a certain standard of beauty to ensure that they can find a good husband. The reality of this means force-feeding. Leblouh, as the tradition is called, may be fading away in the cities but […]

African Leaders in Mauritania for Summit against Corruption

African Leaders in Mauritania for Summit against Corruption

Thirty African heads of state are meeting in Mauritania Sunday and have opened the 31st African Union summit, which is aimed at finding ways to stamp out the continent’s corruption and discussing efforts to improve peace and security. The summit, on Sunday and Monday in Mauritania’s capital, Nouakchott, is focused on ending the diversion of […]

As Millions Face Hunger in Sahel, More Accountability Is Needed to Attract Support, Warns Red Cross President

As Millions Face Hunger in Sahel, More Accountability Is Needed to Attract Support, Warns Red Cross President

About 5.8 million people across Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania, Niger and Senegal are struggling to get enough food and require immediate assistance. To respond to their needs adequately, humanitarian actors need to manage well the funding they receive from their partners and well-wishers, warned Francesco Rocca, the President of the International Federation of Red […]

The Unspeakable Truth About Slavery in Mauritania

The Unspeakable Truth About Slavery in Mauritania

Photojournalist, Seif Kousmate, photographed and interviewed current and former slaves in Mauritania and got imprisoned by police in the process. In 1981, Mauritania made slavery illegal, the last country in the world to do so. Nonetheless, tens of thousands of people – mostly from the minority Haratine or Afro-Mauritanian groups – still live as bonded […]

The Scams Which Drain West Africa’s Resources

The Scams Which Drain West Africa’s Resources

The international coalition of journalists which pioneered reporting on the “Panama Papers” has teamed up with West Africa’s Norbert Zongo Cell for Investigative Journalism (Cenozo)* to expose the tax avoidance, financial crime and corruption which siphon money out of the region, hindering development. In what the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists (ICIJ) calls West Africa’s […]

West Africa is Losing Millions of Dollars

West Africa is Losing Millions of Dollars

West Africa is losing millions of dollars that could be spent tackling poverty and inequality because governments are bending the rules to favour the rich and powerful, said Oxfam today in the wake of #WestAfricaLeaks. #WestAfricaLeaks shows an elaborate collusion between some of the region’s most powerful politicians and business leaders. From Senegal and Nigeria […]

António Guterres welcomes deployment of regional force to combat terrorism in the Sahel

António Guterres welcomes deployment of regional force to combat terrorism in the Sahel

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has welcomed the deployment by the so-called Group of Five (G5) – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Niger – of a joint force to tackle the threat of terrorism and organized crime in the Sahel region. In a statement issued late last night by his spokesman, the Secretary-General welcomed […]

Plastic Bag Bans in Africa – Reality or Fantasy?

Plastic Bag Bans in Africa – Reality or Fantasy?

Tunisia and Kenya recently joined the ranks of African countries banning the use of plastic bags – but poor waste management and a mentality of littering make the prospect of a plastic waste-free society unrealistic. Plastic bags are used daily across Africa – the bans are hoped to tackle the pervasive problem of waste. In […]

United Nations and Mauritania discuss slavery

United Nations and Mauritania discuss slavery

A UN mission yesterday discussed slavery and means to fight it with the Mauritanian government in Nouakchott, the Anadolu Agency reported. The UN Special Rapporteur on Contemporary Forms of Slavery, Urmila Bhoola, met with the Mauritanian Human Rights and Women Issues Commissioner, Sheikh Altrad Ould Abdel-Malik. According to the official Mauritanian news agency, UN reports about this issue published in May […]

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