Mauritania Coup and Maghreb Cover
Mohammad El Ashab Al Hayat - 14/08/08//
By choosing to send envoys to the capitals of the Arab Maghreb, the leader of Mauritania's military coup, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, has spared the Maghreb governments the expected embarrassment. By making such a choice, the leaders of the High Council of State have reaffirmed their commitment to Mauritania's membership in the Arab Maghreb, as well as to the future of the Arab Maghreb Union, despite the latter's current state of paralysis.
Most probably, Moroccan envoy Mohamed Yassine Al-Mansouri's visit to Nouakchott and his meeting with the coup's leader reflect Rabat's interest in what has taken place in Mauritania. As luck would have it, the envoys of the Arab League, African Union and United Nations in Nouakchott are of Algerian descent, although they are all committed to the stances taken by the regional and international organizations they represent.
General Ould Abdel Aziz's initiative does not only reflect his desire to open up his country to its Arab and African neighborhood, but also that of acquiring legitimacy for his movement at the level of the Maghreb. Such legitimacy will at the very least help the High Council of State formulate its intentions with regard to returning power to civilians after a transitional period.
However, Ould Abdel Aziz's movement seems divided between his attempts to gain both domestic and foreign legitimacy. Mauritanians, those loyal to the present regime as well as those who oppose it, know quite well that, to the countries of the region, the current situation is an internal matter. To the same extent, the Mauritanians do not wish their relations with countries in the region to become a matter of competition or outbidding. Mauritania has managed to maintain peaceful relations with its environment, on the basis of a delicate balance reflected in positive neutrality in regard to regional problems at hand. Since Rabat had previously acted as mediator to reduce tensions between Mauritania and Senegal, or between the two countries and Libya, Algiers has made sure to preserve its friendly relations with Nouakchott, as the regional balance of power requires taking Mauritania's opinion into account.
As Moroccan monarch King Mohammed VI intervened with the US to gather support for the August 2007 coup, Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika has undertaken to allow for Mauritania's normalization in the African Union; the Tunisians spared no effort in this direction. Indeed, no party wishes to see change taking place on the region's map. Thus the problem does not reside in whether or not a coup takes place, but in the implications of such a coup, and the consequences which the Mauritanians alone will have to face.
Between the concern for democracy and the necessity of adapting to the developing situation in Mauritania, it will be difficult for the governments of the Maghreb to side either with the de facto legitimacy or with the legitimacy of the elections. In fact, it will not even be easy for them to stand on the sidelines. Indeed, there are intertwined principles, relations and interests in dealing with the situation in Mauritania. Furthermore, the stances that could be taken by the various parties, whether secretly or publicly, will have an impact on future developments. Nevertheless, by sending envoys, the new High Council of State has ensured that half the distance has been crossed to a regional acceptance of the de facto situation.
The EU's stance, when it demanded the release of overthrown Mauritanian president Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, represented a humanitarian breakthrough, paving the way for continuous developments. Governments of the Maghreb can always play the card of defending the toppled president's life, as if it was equivalent to defending democracy. Some human feelings may be a prelude to political solutions. The demand to maintain Mauritania's stability and prevent internal conflict is far more important than the substitution of persons and roles.
In the experience of dealing with military regimes, Mauritania's situation is no exception. A closely similar case is that of Pakistan, where the military under President Pervez Musharraf's leadership have taken the forefront on the basis of playing an active part in the war on terror. Perhaps what Mauritania and Pakistan have in common is that they are both classified as "hotspots" in the war on terror. There are fears that the southern coastal Sahara region bordering Mauritania may turn into another Afghanistan.
Apparently, however, this issue will not be utilized politically before the Mauritanian envoys' tours of North Africa have achieved their purpose.
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