uspices, to determine whether the “saharaouis” wish to remain part of Morocco or not. The Moroccan authorities, on their part, wish the saharaouis to remain part of Morocco and, as such, have made significant investments in the area. Mauritanian Foreign Minister Ahmed Sid’Ahmed and his Israeli counterpart David Levy signed an agreement in Washington DC, USA, on 28 October 1999, establishing full diplomatic relations with Mauritania, an Islamic country and a member of the Arab League. The signing ceremony was held at the U.S. State Department in the presence of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. Mauritania joined Egypt and Jordan as the only members of the Arab League to post ambassadors in Israel. On 31 January 2008 the Permanent Representative of the Republic of Armenia to the United Nations (New York) Armen Martirosyan has signed a protocol with Abderahim Ould Hadrami (Mauritanian representative to UN) in New York establishing full diplomatic relations with Mauritania. The Ould Daddah era (1960-78) After independence, President Moktar Ould Daddah, originally installed by the French, formalized Mauritania into a one-party state in 1964 with a new constitution, which set up an authoritarian presidential regime. Daddah's own Parti du Peuple Mauritanien (PPM) became the ruling organization in a single-party system. The President justified this decision on the grounds that he considered Mauritania unready for western-style multi-party democracy. Under this one-party constitution, Daddah was reelected in uncontested elections in 1966, 1971 and 1976. He was ousted in a bloodless coup on 10 July 1978, after bringing the country to near-collapse through a disastrous war to annex the southern part of Western Sahara, in an attempt to create a "Greater Mauritania". CMRN and CMSN military governments (1978-84) Col. Mustafa Ould Salek's CMRN junta proved incapable of either establishing a strong base of power or extracting the country from its destabilizing conflict with the Sahrawi resistance movement, the Polisario Front. It quickly fell to be replaced by another military government, the CMSN. The energetic Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah soon emerged as its main strongman, and by giving up all claims to Western Sahara he found peace with the Polisario, and improved relations with its main backer, Algeria – but relations with the other party to the conflict, Morocco, and its European ally France, deteriorated. Instability continued, and Haidallah's ambitious reform attempts foundered. His regime was plagued by attempted coups and intrigue within the military establishment; in 1984, finally, he was deposed by Col. Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. Ould Taya's rule (1984-2005) The Parti Républicain Démocratique et Social (PRDS), formerly led by President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, dominated Mauritanian politics following the country's first multi-party elections in April 1992 following the approval by referendum of the current constitution in July 1991. President Taya, who won elections in 1992 and 1997, first became chief of state through a 12 December 1984 bloodless coup which made him chairman of the committee of military officers that governed Mauritania from July 1978 to April 1992. Political parties, illegal during the military period, were legalized again in 1991. By April 1992, as civilian rule returned, 16 major political parties had been recognized; 12 major political parties were active in 2004. Most opposition parties boycotted the first legislative election in 1992, and for nearly a decade the parliament was dominated by the PRDS. The opposition participated in municipal elections in January-February 1994 and subsequent Senate elections, most recently in April 2004, gained representation at the local level as well as three seats in the Senate. Mauritania's presidential election, its third since adopting the democratic process in 1992, took place on 7 November 2003. Six candidates, including Mauritania's first female and first Haratine (former slave family) candidates, represented a wide variety of political goals and backgrounds. Incumbent President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya won reelection with 67.02% of the popular vote, according to the official figures, with Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla finishing second. Sid'Ahmed Taya recognized Israel (see Foreign relations of Mauritania), which made Mauritania the only Arab country not neighbouring Israel which recognized the latter (Morocco and Qatar have official ties with Israel, but do not fully recognize it). He also started cooperating with the United States in antiterrorism activities, which was criticized by human rights NGOs, who talked of an exaggeration and instrumentation of alleged terrorist activities for geopolitical aims.[8][9] A group of current and former Army officers launched a bloody but unsuccessful coup attempt on 8 June 2003. The leaders of the attempted coup were never caught. August 2005 military coup On 3 August 2005, a military coup led by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall ended Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya's twenty-one years of rule. On 3 August, the Mauritanian military, including members of the presidential guard, seized control of key points in the capital of Nouakchott. They took advantage of President Taya's attendance at the funeral of Saudi King Fahd to organize the coup, which took place without loss of life. The officers, calling themselves the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, released the following statement: "The national armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the oppressive activities of the defunct authority, which our people have suffered from during the past years."[10] The Military Council later issued another statement naming Colonel Vall as president and director of the national police force, the Sûreté Nationale. Sixteen other officers were listed as members. Colonel Vall was once regarded as a firm ally of the now-ousted president, even aiding him in the original coup that brought him to power, and later serving as his security chief. Applauded by the Mauritanian people[citation needed], but cautiously watched by the international community, the coup has since been generally accepted, while the military junta has organized elections within the promised two year timeline. In a referendum on 26 June 2006, Mauritanians overwhelmingly (97%) approved a new constitution which limited the duration of a president's stay in office. The leader of the junta, Col. Vall, promised to abide by the referendum and relinquish power peacefully. Mauritania's establishment of relations with the State of Israel – it is one of only three Arab states to recognize Israel – was maintained by the new regime, despite widespread criticism from the opposition, who viewed it as a legacy of the Taya regime's attempts to curry favor with the West. Parliamentary and municipal elections in Mauritania took place on 19 November and 3 December 2006. 2007 Presidential election The first fully democratic Presidential election since 1960 occurred on 11 March 2007. The election effected the final transfer from military to civilian rule following the military coup in 2005. This was the first time that the president had been selected in a multi-candidate election in the country's post-independence history.[11] The election was won in a second round of voting by Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, with Ahmed Ould Daddah a close second. 2008 military coup Main article: 2008 Mauritanian coup d'état Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. The head of the Presidential Guards took over the president's palace and units of the army surrounded a key state building in the capital Nouakchott on 6 August 2008, a day after 48 lawmakers from the ruling party resigned. The army surrounded the state television building after the president sacked (fired) two senior officers, including the head of the presidential guards. [12] The president, the prime minister and the minister of internal affairs were arrested. The coup was organized by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, former chief of staff of the Mauritanian army and head of the Presidential Guard, whom the president had just dismissed. Mauritania's presidential spokesman, Abdoulaye Mamadouba, said President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf and the interior minister, were arrested by renegade Senior Mauritanian army officers, unknown troops and a group of generals, and were held under house arrest at the presidential palace in Nouakchott.[13][14][15] In the apparently successful and bloodless coup d'etat, Abdallahi's daughter, Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, said: "The security agents of the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion) came to our home and took away my father."[16] The coup plotters, all dismissed in a presidential decree shortly beforehand, included General Muhammad Ould ‘Abd Al-‘Aziz, General Muhammad Ould Al-Ghazwani, General Philippe Swikri, and Brigadier General (Aqid) Ahmad Ould Bakri.[17] A Mauritanian lawmaker, Mohammed Al Mukhtar, announced that "many of the country's people were supporting the takeover attempt and the government was "an authoritarian regime" and that the president had "marginalized the majority in parliament."[18] Regions and departments Main articles: Regions of Mauritania and Departments of Mauritania View of Nouakchott. Chinguetti mosque Mauritania is divided into 12 regions (régions) and one capital district, which in turn are subdivided into 44 departments (départements). The regions and capital district (in alphabetical order) and their capitals are: Region Capital Adrar Atar Assaba Kifa Brakna Aleg Dakhlet Nouadhibou Nouadhibou Gorgol Kaédi Guidimaka Sélibaby Hodh Ech Chargui Néma Hodh El Gharbi Ayoun el Atrous Inchiri Akjoujt Nouakchott (capital district) Tagant Tidjikdja Tiris Zemmour F'dérik Trarza Rosso Geography Mountains in the Adrar region; desert scenes continue to define the Mauritanian landscape. Main article: Geography of Mauritania At 397,929 square miles (1,030,700 km²),[19] Mauritania is the world's 29th-largest country (after Bolivia). It is comparable in size to Egypt. Mauritania is generally flat, its 1,030,700 square kilometers (397,850 sq mi) forming vast, arid plains broken by occasional ridges and clifflike outcroppings. A series of scarps face southwest, longitudinally bisecting these plains in the center of the country. The scarps also separate a series of sandstone plateaus, the highest of which is the Adrar Plateau, reaching an elevation of 500 meters (1,640 ft). Spring-fed oases lie at the foot of some of the scarps. Isolated peaks, often rich in minerals, rise above the plateaus; the smaller peaks are called guelbs and the larger ones kedias. The concentric Guelb er Richat (also known as the Richat Structure) is a prominent feature of the north-central region. Kediet ej Jill, near the city of Zouîrât, has an elevation of 1,000 meters (3,280 ft) and is the highest peak. Bareina, a village in south-west Mauritania Approximately three quarters of Mauritania is desert or semidesert. As a result of extended, severe drought, the desert has been expanding since the mid-1960s. To the west, between the ocean and the plateaus, are alternating areas of clayey plains (regs) and sand dunes (ergs), some of which shift from place to place, gradually moved by high winds. The dunes generally increase in size and mobility toward the north. Economy Main article: Economy of Mauritania A majority of the population still depends on agriculture and livestock for a livelihood, even though most of the nomads and many 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 almost 50% of total exports. With the current rises in metal prices, gold and copper mining companies are opening mines in the interior. The nation's coastal waters are among the richest fishing areas in the world, but overexploitation by foreigners threatens this key source of revenue. The country's first deepwater port opened near Nouakchott in 1986. In recent years, drought and economic mismanagement have resulted in a buildup of foreign debt. In March 1999, the government signed an agreement with a joint World Bank-IMF mission on a $54 million enhanced structural adjustment facility (ESAF). The economic objectives have been set for 1999-2002. Privatization remains one of the key issues. Mauritania is unlikely to meet ESAF's annual GDP growth objectives of 4%-5%. Oil was discovered in Mauritania in 2001 in the offshore Chinguetti deposit. Although potentially significant for the Mauritanian economy, it remains to be seen how much it will help the country. Mauritania has been described as a "desperately poor desert nation, which straddles the Arab and African worlds and is Africa's newest, if small-scale, oil producer."[20] There may be additional oil reserves inland in the Taoudeni basin, although the harsh environment will make extraction expensive.[21] Demographics Schoolboys in Mauritania Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (December 2007) Main articles: Demographics of Mauritania and Islam in Mauritania Population  3,364,940 (July 2008 estimated)[22] Life expectancy at birth  53.91 years (2008 estimate)[22] Ethnic groups  40% mixed Moor/Black; 30% Moor; 29% Black[22]; 1% French Religions  99.84% Muslim, most of whom are Sunnis, 0.16% Christians, mostly Roman Catholics Languages  Hassaniya dialect of Arabic (official and national); Other languages spoken include: Pulaar, Soninke, Wolof and French (widely used in media and among educated classes, see African French). Culture Please help improve this article or section by expanding it. Further information might be found on the talk page. (December 2008) The name of the country is derived from the Latin Mauretania, meaning the land of the Mauri. The French occupied the country in 1860 in close cooperation with Maur religious leaders. Mauritania became a nation after the destruction of the kingdoms of Fouta Toro and Walo Walo and the Arab-Berber emirats of Trarza, Brakna, Taganet, and Adrar. As a result, the country has two main ethnic groups: black Africans and Arab-Berbers. The black African group includes the Fulani, Soninke, and Bambara. The Maurs include the Arab-Berbers (Beydan) and the black Maurs known as Haratin. The Haratins are black Africans who were enslaved by white Maurs. White and black Maurs consider themselves Arab, whereas black Arabs see themselves as African. The most important common denomination is Sunni Islam. The Mauritanian culture for beauty encourages consumption of high fat foods such as camel's milk, to ensure that young women attain sufficient size. What would be considered overweight in the Western Culture would be considered attractive in this culture. Stretch marks are also considered attractive, as are large ankles and bottoms. Obesity is so revered among Mauritania's white Moor Arab population that the young girls are sometimes force-fed to obtain a weight the government has described as "life-threatening". Force-feeding has now been officially outlawed but still takes place in some areas of the country.[23] Qur'an collection in a library in Chinguetti Music of Mauritania Islam in Mauritania Status of religious freedom in Mauritania Mauritania and Madagascar are the only two countries in the world not to use decimal-based currency. The basic unit of currency, the ouguiya, comprises five khoums List of films shot in Mauritania List of Mauritanian singers Marriage traditions in Mauritania Traditional education system in Mauritania (Al-Mahethra) Clothing of Mauritania See also Africa portal Geography portal Main article: Outline of Mauritania v • d • e Mauritania topics Politics and law Constitution · Elections · Flag · Foreign relations · Head of state · Law enforcement · Military · Parliament · Political parties History Precolonial Mauritania · Colonial Mauritania · 1960-1978 · 1978-1991 · 1991-present Geography Cities · Departments · Ecoregions · Regions · Wildlife Economy and infrastructure Agriculture · Airports · Central bank · Currency · Tourism Culture and society Christianity · Demographics · Education · Films · Health · Islam · Music  · Slavery · Sport · Women List of Mauritania-related articles Slavery in Mauritania Notes ^ "Mauritania : Location, Map, Area, Capital, Population, Religion, Language - Country Information". http://www.arab.de/arabinfo/maurita.htm. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ a b c d "Mauritania". International Monetary Fund. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/weo/2009/01/weodata/weorept.aspx?sy=2006&ey=2009&scsm=1&ssd=1&sort=country&ds=.&br=1&c=682&s=NGDPD%2CNGDPDPC%2CPPPGDP%2CPPPPC%2CLP&grp=0&a=&pr.x=54&pr.y=14. Retrieved on 2009-04-22.  ^ UNDP: Human development indices - Table 3: Human and income poverty (Population living below national poverty line (2000-2007)) ^ Chaabani H; Sanchez-Mazas A, Sallami SF (2000). "Genetic differentiation of Yemeni people according to rhesus and Gm polymorphisms". Annales de Génétique 43 (3-4): 155–62. doi:10.1016/S0003-3995(00)01023-6. PMID 11164198.  ^ Mauritanian MPs pass slavery law. BBC News. August 9, 2007. ^ For more information please read slave owner Abdel Nasser Ould Yasser account in "Enslaved, True stories of Modern Day Slavery" edited by Jesse Sage and Liora Kasten, directors of the American Anti-Slavery Group ^ MAURITANIA: Fair elections haunted by racial imbalance. IRIN. March 5, 2007. ^ "Crackdown courts U.S. approval". CNN. 24 November 2003. http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/africa/11/23/backlash.forusally.ap/. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ "MAURITANIA: New wave of arrests presented as crackdown on Islamic extremists". IRIN Africa. 12 May 2005. http://www.irinnews.org/report.asp?ReportID=47093. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ "Mauritania officers 'seize power'". BBC News. 4 August 2005. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/4741243.stm. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ "Mauritania vote 'free and fair'". BBC News. 12 March 2007. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6440597.stm. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ "tehran times : 48 lawmakers resign from ruling party in Mauritania". http://www.tehrantimes.com/index_View.asp?code=174725. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ afp.google.com, Coup in Mauritania as president, PM arrested ^ news.bbc.co.uk, Troops stage 'coup' in Mauritania ^ ap.google.com, Coup under way in Mauritania: president's office ^ telegraph.co.uk,Mauritania president under house arrest as army stages coup ^ themedialine.org, Generals Seize Power in Mauritanian Coup ^ ap.google.com, Renegade army officers stage coup in Mauritania ^ "CIA - The World Factbook - Rank Order - Area". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/rankorder/2147rank.html. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ A day after a coup, Mauritania's new junta promises free elections "soon as possible", Associated Press ^ "Taoudeni Basin Overview". Baraka Petroleum. http://www.barakapetroleum.com/mauritania/taoudeni-basin/. Retrieved on 2009-03-14.  ^ a b c "CIA - The World Factbook - Mauritania". https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/mr.html#People. Retrieved on 2008-08-06.  ^ "Mauritania's 'wife-fattening' farm". BBC News. 26 January 2004. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3429903.stm. Retrieved on 2009-04-24.  Refere