Pressure Intensifies on President Of Mauritania to Step Down
Mauritania’s Democratic Opposition Coordination Committee is increasing its pressure on the president to step down, writes Kaci Racelma.
Islamic Republic of Mauritania President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is clearly in trouble. His faults have been exposed and he is being pressured to step down. This is what can be concluded from the recent media appearance by the leader of Mauritania’s Democratic Opposition Coordination Committee, Ahmed Ould Daddah. Without mincing words, Daddah explicitly accused President Aziz of being involved in a “serious matter.” Daddah accused the president of moral decay and a lack of credibility.
Another committee figure — Mohamed Jemil Ould Mansour, chairman of the Tawassoul Party — said that the president should be ousted. Mansour said that “the scandals involving President Aziz are affecting the image and the vital interests of Mauritania.” Tawassoul is an Islamist party that was legalized in 2008. It is now battling the government, which it considers unable to meet the democratic aspirations of Mauritania’s people.
The long-awaited peaceful and democratic change has not happened, which made the Democratic Opposition Coordination Committee parties renew their call for the peaceful departure of the president.
President Aziz is seeing his popularity drop. The unemployed youth no longer support him after he had failed to find them jobs. Faced with this situation, many politicians are trying to lay the foundations for a new consensual transition that marks a definitive break with military regimes. The Democratic Opposition Coordination Committee is demanding an international investigation into the president’s actions. There are allegations that he was involved in money laundering in 2006-07, when he was a colonel. The presidential entourage strongly denies the allegations.
