Marrying off Mauritanian girls as young as six years old to men in Gulf states is turning into a profitable trafficking enterprise as a typically rural marriage practice migrates to the city, according to urban families. “It used to be widespread in the rural milieu, but now child marriages are more developed in urban areas as a new business,” said Sidi Mohamed Ould Jyyide, a sociologist in the capital Nouakchott.

Environmental degradation, responsible for the dangerous displacement of sand dunes in Mauritania, has wiped out homes, livestock and livelihoods throughout the desert country. An October UN study estimated that land degradation costs nearly US$200 million annually in potential revenue losses and health care expenses.

Reporters Without Borders condemns the imprisonment of Abdel Fettah Ould Abeidna, the editor of the privately-owned Arabic-language weekly Al-Aqsa, in Nouakchott on a criminal libel charge. Abeidna was immediately jailed on his arrival from Dubai, from where he was extradited.

The European Union has said it will take "appropriate measures" to punish Mauritania after failing to restore constitutional rule, the French foreign ministry has said. Frederic Desagneaux, the foreign ministry spokesman, said on Thursday: "Given that the junta's proposals have been deemed insufficient by the international community, EU member states will examine, based on the proposals of the European Commission, appropriate measures".

The Mauritanian government is guilty of routine and systematic torture, according to a new Amnesty International report. Mauritania: torture at the heart of the state says that the country's security forces have adopted torture as the preferred method of investigation and repression. The report details the methods of torture and lists the exact locations of some torture centres.

Mauritanian refugees considering whether to return home with UNHCR help received positive news at the weekend when the Mauritanian authorities gave birth certificates to two returnee children, paving the way for them to receive national ID papers. The documents were handed to the young boy and girl during an official ceremony on Sunday in the border town of Rosso.

The European Union will press Mauritania's military government next week for a return to constitutional rule and the release of ousted President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. The bloc could impose sanctions if no progress is made in talks which start in Paris on Monday, the French EU presidency said on Friday.

The military coup leader who seized power in Mauritania last month has rejected an African Union (AU) ultimatum to reinstate Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi as the country's president, saying it is not in the country's best interests. "The position of the African Union is neither constructive, nor positive," General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz told reporters in the capital, Nouakchott.

Mauritania: ‘The coup d’état and separating the political wheat from politicians’ chaff’

Kaaw Touré & Ibra Mifo Sow (2008-09-26)

Kaaw Touré and Ibra Mifo Sow interview Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallah, the daughter of deposed former president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallah. She responds to questions about her father’s detention, her family’s security and her father’s record as president. She applauds international condemnation of the 6 August coup, and the will of the Mauritanian people to see constitutional order restored.

Food Crisis: How Uganda won the Rice War

G. Pascal Zachary (2008-09-26)

A continental workshop on the Economic Partnership Agreements between European and African countries will be held in Addis Ababa to analyse whether inconsistency between regional objectives and initial bilateral trade agreements involving some African countries and their European Union trading partners will jeopardise Africa’ s integration agenda. Meanwhile, African leaders attending the United Nations (UN) summit highlighted the challenges they face in funding basic services such as health and sanitation because of the soaring costs of fuel and basic foods and called for measures to be taken to address these at the international level, including debt cancellation, more research on seed variation and assistance with irrigation technology among others.

The Peace and Security Council of the African Union (AU) has given the coup leaders in Mauritania until October 6 to restore constitutional order in the country through the unconditional restoration of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and has declared as null all constitutional, institutional and legislative measures taken by the junta after the coup. Nevertheless, the new Mauritanian leaders, who enjoy the support of the majority of parliamentarians, have rejected the AU ultimatum describing it as non constructive and not in the interest of Mauritania. While, members of parliament have themselves adopted their own road map for the resumption of constitutional order. Also in peace and security news, the AU has strongly condemned Somali rebel assaults on its peacekeepers describing the attacks as ‘calculated provocation and intended to show its mission as partisan in the ongoing conflict so its troops could easily become a target’. As a result of these continual attacks on its troops, the AU has restated its call on the UN Security Council to immediately authorise the deployment of peacekeepers in the country and appealed to the international community to censure the acts of aggression and terrorism in Somalia.

Meanwhile, the panel of African eminent personalities is set to continue monitoring the political developments in Kenya to ensure that the coalition government delivers on its promises, especially in relation to constitutional reform, land reform, youth unemployment, and national cohesion. Meanwhile, the AU chairman, President Jakaya Kikwete of Tanzania, has dismissed fear that the resignation of President Thabo Mbeki of South Africa could put the Zimbabwe power-sharing deal at risk, reaffirming the AU’s commitment to assist.

Participants at a regional conference in Kampala appealed to African countries to ensure that cluster bombs are banned, while the UN has called on all countries to sign a treaty in Oslo on 3 December that will outlaw the production of cluster munitions.

Finally, the Chinese government and the AU have signed a contract agreement for the construction of the African Union Conference Centre as another step in the partnership between China and Africa.

More Africans are risking transatlantic crossings to Europe after Mauritania’s military coup last week, according to Jerome Dukiya, a Catholic priest in the port town of Nouadhibou. Two years ago, Nouadhibou was one of the most highly-trafficked departure points for would-be migrants trying to escape to Europe by boat.

The African Union (AU) has condemned the military coup in Mauritania and insisted on a return to constitutional government while sending its peace and security commissioner ‘to assess the situation and assist in promoting a peaceful solution to the crisis’. The AU went further to suspend Mauritania's membership until a democratically elected government is in place and demanded the release of Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. The suspension is ‘a powerful reminder that Africa is not prepared to return to the dark days when military coups were the tradition’. Analysts have further called for the AU to urge the coup leaders to ‘immediately form a caretaker government’ to restore democracy. International condemnation of the coup has been widespread with threats by the United States and the European Union to cut non-humanitarian aid.

Still in peace and security news, the Peace and Security Council (PSC) of the AU has expressed concerns at the resignation of a number of cabinet ministers from the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia and ‘its impact on the ongoing peace and reconciliation efforts’. The PSC also condemned the attacks against the AU mission in Somalia (AMISOM) and humanitarian workers saying that ‘all acts of violence aimed at undermining the ongoing process in Somalia furthered instability in the region as a whole’. The PSC also called on opposing parties in Burundi to avoid ‘procrastination and delay tactics’ that affect the implementation of the peace deal despite the return to Bujumbura of the representatives of Palipehutu/FNL. Meanwhile, ‘the Kenya style power sharing’ solution, favoured by the AU and the Southern African Development Community, appeared to be close to agreement in the Zimbabwe talks.

In health related news, the former Botswana president Festus Mogae ‘launched a new initiative that will try to use the energy and experience of a group of renowned and forthright African leaders to persuade their peers on the continent to inject fresh energy into their efforts to combat Aids’. The group will include former presidents and other African prominent individuals.

African and Turkish non governmental organisations will meet in Istanbul under the theme ‘cooperation and development’ to set a joint cooperation platform and declaration tackling issues of development, gender, communication and environment, amongst others, to be submitted to the ‘Turkey-Africa cooperation summit’. The aim of the heads of states and government summit is to promote and strengthen political, economic and cultural relations between Turkey and the continent.

Finally, in an interview with the Mail & Guardian, the AU Commission chairperson, Mr. Jean Ping noted with optimism the AU’s vision of an Africa free from war and dictatorships and noted the progress made in peace and security with only Somalia and Sudan remaining as protracted conflicts on the Continent. However, he noted that the AU faces considerable financial constraints and claimed that “we should build the capacity of the African Union to deal with all these issues. We should also convince the staff that they should move from reflection to action. There will be resistance everywhere—they are used to meetings and committees. I hope that before my departure we will triumph by bringing our tool, the African Union, into action’.

The new military ruler in Mauritania has had been boosted by support from many of the country's politicians. More than two-thirds of the members of parliament, and the same proportion of senators, have put their names to a statement supporting the coup.

Mauritania's coup leaders have announced they will appoint a government to run the country until new elections, defying a chorus of international demands to restore the first democratically elected president. Soldiers in the northwest African country toppled Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi on Wednesday after he tried to sack senior officers.

The president of Mauritania, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh (photo), has been overthrown in a military coup following his decision to sack some senior members of the army, including the presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdulazizz. Shortly after announcing the sacking of the military brass soldiers from the presidential guard gathered at the presidential palace seized Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallah, other Government officials and replaced the sacked army chiefs.

The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has called for the release of Mohamed Nema Omar the publisher and Mohamed Ould Abdelatif journalist of the Arab language weekly newspaper Al Houriya. The two are jailed since 21 July over defamation and insult of three judges. "This long and painful detention looks like reprisals for our colleagues," said Gabriel Baglo the Director of IFJ Africa office. "We condemn the bad detention conditions of Omar and Abdelatif. We call for their immediate release and a fair trial."

Around 30 journalists demonstrated outside the main lawcourt building in Nouakchott to protest against the way two detained colleagues - Nema Mohamed Omar and Mohamed Abdelatif of the Al Houriya newspaper - are being treated to demand that they be brought before a criminal court. With their hands and ankles manacled, Oumar and Abdelatif were brought before an investigating judge half an hour after the protest.

The return of over 4,000 Mauritanian refugees who have been living in exile in Senegal for almost two decades has been smooth on the whole, but in some cases tensions are arising as refugees complain about their new living conditions and come up against difficulties in reclaiming their land.

A political tug-of-war in Mauritania's majority party garnered the public's attention during the first week of July. Citizens say the fall of the two-month old government is a sign of democratic progress and evidence that the common man's voice is being heard in Parliament.

The newly appointed Mauritanian Prime Minister has ruled out the inclusion of selected opposition parties in his new cabinet line-up. Yayha Ould Ahmed El Waghf, who had recently lost the parliament's confidence, learnt bitter lessons for giving excessive powers to the minority parties. A no-confidence motion against his government has to do with his inclusion of political kingpins associated with the former President Maaouya Ould Taya in the government.