Contrary to the widespread perception that Mauritania has moved toward democracy, this troubled country faces continued ethnic tensions and the prospect of increasing repression.
About the Author
Boubacar N’Diaye, a former high-level civil servant in Mauritania, currently teaches black studies and political science at the College of Wooster in Ohio. His most recent scholarly works deal with civil-military relations in Africa, democratization prospects, human rights, and pan-Africanism. He is author of The Challenge of Institutionalizing Civilian Control (2001).
On 9 December 2011, incumbent president Joseph Kabila was declared the official winner of the DRC’s deeply flawed presidential election, resulting in a legal president without legitimacy and an uncertain…