Homocon

There are six ethnic groups in Mauritania (a country located in the Western Sahara region), with tensions high between the predominant ArabBerbers and the remaining black Africans. Virtually the entire population (3 million) is Sunni Muslim, and the economy is mainly herding and agriculture (though the land is poor for farming and grazing), but economic positions have become less caste based and social patterns have seen encouraging moves toward fluidity since the 1960 independence from France (though in 1981, observers did estimate that at least 100,000 people were still slaves and 300,000 were ex- slaves).

Mauritania and neighboring Morocco sustain hostilities (Mauritania accused Morocco of backing a coup attempt in 1981), but Mauritania has long been an invaluable policy player in the Western Sahara region as a negotiating bridge between Arab North Africa and black sub-Saharan Africa. Major trading partners include neighboring Arab regions, as well as Western Europe, Japan and the United States.

In 1993, the United States ended development aid to Mauritania in protest against the country’s oppression of its black citizenry, and also in protest of its support of Iraq during the Persian Gulf War; President Taya subsequently moved toward a pro-Western position, and American developmental aid resumed, though as recently as 2004, the Red Cross was stating concerns over a growing food crisis in the entire region, with 750,000 Mauritanians believed to be at risk of starvation from poor soil and locust infestations.

When President Taya left Mauritania on Monday to attend the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd, the opportunity was ripe for yet another military takeover. Presidential guard troops in the capital took control of the national radio and television stations only hours after Taya had left the country, seizing a building housing the army chief of staff headquarters while blocking key roads and several entrances to the city. Citizens immediately began fleeing the city center.

In a communique broadcast on state media, a "Military Council for Justice and Democracy" announced it would rule the desert nation, claiming that Mauritanian citizens have suffered under Taya's totalitarian rule. It's also rumored that President Taya's relations with Israel, and his crackdown on Islamic fundamentalists, has angered the Muslim population to the point of revolt.

Rumors also circulate that President Taya has been cooperating with Washington in the GWOT, further angering the Islamists residing in Mauritania. Yet the fact remains that Taya has presided over the transformation of nomadic Mauritania into a more highly urbanized and market-driven nation. Extensive mineral deposits have been discovered, along with offshore oil reserves, another possible motivation for the recent coup. Price liberalization, the privatization, liquidation or restructuring of several public enterprises, and agricultural sector reforms have also been undertaken in an attempt to reduce the national debt (in which Mauritania is currently aswim) and to bring Mauritania's mostly agrarian and non-self-supporting economy into the 21st century.

Despite the current tensions within the country, Israel has declared that it won't evacuate its embassy in Mauritania, and the United States, the United Nations and the African Union have all appealed for a return to the constitutional rule of Mauritania. The U.S. State Department concluded earlier this year in its global human rights report that the Mauritanian government's record was poor, and included cases of abuse by security forces and restrictions on freedoms of speech, association and religion, but the U.S. has also been encouraged by signs of increasing transparency in Mauritania's economy, as well as in its election processes and legislative bodies.

It has been reported, however, that celebrations are taking place in the capital over the news of the overthrow of the Taya regime. "It's like we've been imprisoned for decades. I'm so happy. Change is good. We've been disappointed by the regime," shouted Mohammed, in his early 20s, as he ran down the street, but the Organization of African Unity may press for an oil exports blockade against Mauritania as a result of the coup, which would grind Mauritania's fledgling oil industry to a screeching halt, depriving the military coup leaders of their expected source of income by which they had hoped to continue controlling Mauritania for at least the next two years.

Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the national police chief and a former trusted confident of President Taya, was announced the country's new leader by the military junta that seized control in Taya's absence. State television and radio were back on air by the afternoon, with journalists reading the junta's statement repeatedly, interspersed with Quranic readings.

There has been no indication from the State Department as to whether the U.S. still intends to donate 17,000 metric tons of wheat and 5,000 tons of rice to Mauritania if the military coup remains in force. President Taya's government was to sell the wheat and rice to the local population, then use the proceeds to improve food security and alleviate national poverty. The proceeds were also to be used to promote Mauritania's economic development through basic capacity building, improving rural extension services and agricultural production, as well as constructing wells, clinics and schools.

OFF-TOPIC:
Michael Graham, of Radio 630 WMAL, who was suspended from his on-air time for suggesting that Islam is a terrorist organization, is now begging people to stop calling and emailing the radio station, saying that the message has been received and that the staff is now literally so swamped by the expressions of support for him that they can't even go about doing their normal jobs.

He states that CAIR members emailed several hundred messages of protest against him, attempting to get him suspended and then fired, while Graham has now received over 10,000 messages of support. Heh. Don't mess with conservative radio personalities. Got that, CAIR?

OFF-TOPIC 2:
And this is just vile. Democrats were championing this guy just a few months ago when he appeared before a Senate investigative committee and lied his arse off regarding the Oil for Food corruption at the U.N., all the while spitting insults and invective at our elected representatives (which, of course, the Deaniac/Dummocrats are wont to do, so of course they all cheered).

Said Galloway on al-Jazeera July 31, 2005: "It’s not the Muslims who are the terrorists. The biggest terrorists are Bush, and Blair, and Berlusconi, and Aznar, but it is definitely not a clash of civilizations. George Bush doesn’t have any civilization, he doesn’t represent any civilization. We believe in the Prophets, peace be upon them. He believes in the profits, and how to get a piece of them."

Nice, Galloway. Is your mother for sale, too?

WAY OFF-TOPIC:
How did I miss this?