By Aaron Akinyemi & Danai Nesta Kupemba, BBC Information
As Mauritanians head to the polls within the presidential election, the nation faces a large number of points together with a legacy of army coups, migration, jihadist assaults in neighbouring international locations and a harrowing legacy of slavery.
President Mohamed ould Cheikh Ghazouani, who has been in energy because the nation’s first democratic transition in 2019, is in search of a second and closing time period.
Six different candidates are difficult him for the highest job.
This election is a litmus check of Mauritania’s burgeoning democracy and an indicator of how nicely it’s progressing on its path to higher political openness.
When former President Mohamed ould Abdel Aziz stepped down in 2019 after his tenure, it heralded a brand new period for a rustic that had endured a number of army coups and authoritarian rule.
“Mauritania has the strongest democratic credentials within the Sahel at current, which given its historical past of coups is sort of stunning,” Joseph Hammond, iDove Fellow on the African Union, advised the BBC.
A type of hoping to be Mauritania’s subsequent chief is Biram ould Dah ould Abeid, who got here second within the 2019 elections.
Mr Abeid’s grandparents have been slaves and he has spent a lot of his life campaigning towards the observe.
He has been arrested and imprisoned over time due to his work as president of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Motion (IRA).
Slavery stays a delicate problem in Mauritania, which was the final nation on the planet to outlaw slavery, in 1981.
“My father fought towards pro-slavery all his life. I swore to my father that I’d struggle with out ever compromising. I’d struggle slavery and those that help it,” Mr Abeid advised the BBC in 2016.
It has been abolished within the nation 3 times, however hundreds of black Mauritanians nonetheless reside as unpaid home servants, whereas anti-slavery activists face repression.
An estimated 149,000 persons are enslaved in Mauritania – about 3% of the inhabitants, in accordance with the World Slavery Index (GSI) in 2023.
Migration is one other scorching matter problem that shall be on voters’ minds as they head to the polls.
Mauritania is a key transit level for migrants attempting to succeed in Europe from West Africa, with hundreds of boats departing from the nation final yr.
In April, the European Union granted Mauritania €210m (£177m; $225m) in support – nearly €60m of which shall be invested within the struggle towards unlawful immigration to Europe.
Corruption additionally continues to be a significant downside in Mauritania.
Former President Aziz was jailed for 5 years for illicit enrichment and embezzlement and is disqualified from standing within the election.
The nation is wealthy in varied pure assets like iron, gold, phosphate and is an upcoming market within the oil sector in Africa, but nearly 59% of the inhabitants lives in poverty, in accordance with the United Nations.
It additionally has enormous potential in renewable power – notably inexperienced hydrogen. This type of power might finally present a cleaner various to fossil fuels and play a job within the nation’s carbon-free power transition.
Traders from Europe, Asia, and the Center East, notably the United Arab Emirates, goal to make Mauritania an power hub for inexperienced hydrogen manufacturing, in accordance with the Africa Heart for Strategic Research.
President Ghazouani has additionally campaigned on the significance of the nation’s safety.
Mauritania is within the Sahel area, the semi-arid strip of land south of the Sahara desert, which is a hotbed of jihadist exercise, however the nation has been typically freed from assaults since 2011.
Its neighbour, Mali, nonetheless continues to wrestle with repeated jihadist assaults.
Analysts have partially credited President Ghazouani, whose lengthy profession within the military and safety providers has given him a deep understanding of the jihadist challenges dealing with the Sahel area.
President Ghazouani has developed an in depth alliance with Western companions like France and the US, however has additionally been cautious to maintain ties with its military-run neighbours like Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger, who’ve shunned Western affect lately, reviews the AFP information company.
Head of the US Africa Command, Gen Michael Langley, mentioned Mauritania has had a “longstanding” function in countering terrorism and stopping violent extremism within the Sahel.
Cheikhani Khlil, communication professor at Mauritania’s Lebanese Worldwide College, advised the BBC President Ghazouani has allied Mauritania with the US to fight the assaults.
“There may be continued coaching performed by US particular forces for Mauritanian particular forces items to safe nationwide borders, which reinforces the tactical capabilities and fight readiness of our armed forces,” he mentioned.
Analysts say that as an vital participant in regional safety, Mauritania’s capability to proceed this management function relies upon to a big extent on an efficient and peaceable switch of energy that results in a secure authorities.