Mauritania's newly-appointed prime minister Zeine Ould Zeidane announced the formation of his government on Saturday 28 April, following a week of consultations with President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi. The 28-member cabinet includes Abderrahmane Ould Hamma Vezzaz, who previously worked for the Arab Bank for Economic Development in Africa (BADEA), as the new economy and finance minister.

Speaking at his first press conference after becoming president elect, Sidi ould Cheikh Abdalahi said he would do all he could to transform his vast, desert nation. “[I plan to] build a country that conforms to the norms of justice and economic development” said the 69 year old.

The Mauritanian interior ministry officially announced the victory of independent candidate Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdellahi in the second round of presidential elections held Sunday (March 25th) throughout the country.

On 20 March 2007, journalists working in al-Jazeera's Nouakchott offices received death threats by phone. Then, at about 4:00 p.m. (local time), eight people marched into the premises. Journalist Mohammed Nema Oumar, head of communications for Rashid Mustapha, a failed first round candidate, was among this group. Police arrested four people and opened an investigation to find the other assailants.

Reporters Without Borders have reported that it had uncovered a major imbalance in election coverage of the two candidates to the presidential election run-off, ex cabinet minister Ould Sheikh Abdellahi and long-time opposition figure Ould Daddah, after a third week of monitoring state-run media.

Mauritania is scheduled to hold a run-off round in its presidential elections on March 25th, as none of the 19 presidential candidates obtained an absolute majority (51%) in Sunday's first round.

Reporters Without Borders has reported that the public media are covering the campaigns of all 19 candidates fairly. The public media have complied strictly with the instructions of the High Authority for Press and Broadcasting (HAPA) to assign free newspaper space and air time to each candidate for their individual spots and announcements.

Presidential elections are scheduled to begin on 11 March, but whether a fairer electoral process will make Mauritania a fairer society, is still far from clear. Certainly the racial make up of the political elite remains unchanged. The list of candidates is skewed in favour of light-skin Moors in a country where the majority of people are black.

The election campaign in Mauritania is heating up, with less than a week left before citizens go to the polls to choose their new president. As Maghrebia reports, the country's NGOs have deployed 800 observers to monitor campaigns by 19 candidates in various parts of the country.

Up to 400 African and Asian migrants have begun disembarking in Mauritania from a freighter intercepted by the Spanish coastguard over a week ago. The migrants were handed over to Spanish police after Mauritania and Spain reached a deal following prolonged diplomatic wrangling over responsibility for the migrants.

Allies of Mauritania's ousted leader have united to back a presidential candidate in March's elections. Correspondents say this makes Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, an independent, favourite as the 18-party coalition holds a majority in parliament. Leaders of the military junta which seized power in 2005 are not standing.

A coalition of former opposition parties and independent candidates has won Mauritania's parliamentary elections, after a second round of voting on Sunday. Of the 95 seats in the new national assembly, an alliance of ex-opposition parties has won 41, seats while independent candidates have taken 39 others.

Provisional results from historic legislative and municipal elections in Mauritania indicated on Thursday (23 November 2006) that opposition parties that had defied the country's previous military regime had made a strong showing. The Rally of Democratic Forces (RDF), which struggled against former military ruler Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya, won 12 of 43 National Assembly seats in the 19 November polls.

Although the counting is still going on in the Mauritanian legislative and municipal elections, it is already clear that two former opposition parties - Popular Progressive Alliance (PPA) and Assembly of Democratic Forces (ADF) - are said to be neck-to-neck. The two parties probably swept the polls in the country's two most popular regions.

While not properly recognised, the once-persecuted Islamists are being tolerated in the electoral campaign going on in Mauritania. After Sunday's (12 November 2006) poll, Islamist candidates could enter the Nouakchott parliament for the first time, but the radicals find only a narrow audience among Mauritanians.

Mauritania authorities have charged five men with plotting to overthrow this desert nation's military junta, which has pledged to restore civilian rule by next year. Prosecutor Ben Amar Ould Veta said the five, arrested June 19 for allegedly conspiring to sabotage a referendum that put term limits on future presidents, were charged with "plotting to reverse the constitutional order."

Voters in the poverty stricken West African nation of Mauritania overwhelmingly approved a new Constitution in a weekend referendum, Interior Ministry officials said on Monday 26 June. Officials said that based on early returns they believed that 80% to 90% voted on Sunday 25 June to approve the Constitution, the first in a series of votes to return the country to democracy, reports the Mail and Gaurdian.

The international community must press Mauritania’s leaders who seized power in a coup in August 2005 to respect their promises of democratic transition. The new strong men have made a good start in some ways but some are closely linked to the old regime and may prefer not to redress past injustices. This could fuel political tensions. Deep and controversial reforms cannot be completed quickly, but the government should at least work closely with all national political forces to take initial steps.

More than 30 would-be migrants were missing and believed dead on Sunday after their boat collided with a fishing vessel as it set out from this African desert country toward Europe, according to officials and doctors who treated survivors. The boat was carrying 57 people and had been at sea for about 17 days before the accident late on Saturday, said Commandant Sidi Ould Ahmed of Mauritania's military police. He said 32 people were still missing.

More than 40 African migrants heading for Spain's Canary Islands drowned at the weekend when their boats sank off the West African coast, Mauritania's Red Crescent organisation said on Monday (March 13). More than 40 other migrants were rescued in the incidents, which took place in waters north of the Mauritanian coastal city of Nouadhibou, off the coasts of Western Sahara and Morocco, a Red Crescent spokesman said.