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Mauritania
Devolution via French Community accords.
- Independence
- November 28, 1960
- Before
- French Mauritania
- Metropole
- France
- Leader
- Moktar Ould Daddah
- Transition
- Negotiated
- Movement
- Parti du Regroupement Mauritanien (PRM)
“By virtue of the agreements signed between France and Mauritania and approved by the Parliaments of both States, I solemnly proclaim the independence of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania. (En vertu des accords signés entre la France et la Mauritanie et approuvés par les Parlements des deux États, je proclame solennellement l'indépendance de la République Islamique de Mauritanie.)”
— Moktar Ould Daddah, November 28, 1960
Conquest from Saint-Louis
French penetration of the western Sahara was led by Xavier Coppolani, who placed the Moorish emirates under a protectorate from 1903 until he was killed at Tidjikja in 1905. Resistance continued for decades in the north. Mauritania became a colony of French West Africa in 1920, but it was governed from Saint-Louis in Senegal and received almost no infrastructure. When self-government approached, a new capital had to be built. Nouakchott was chosen as the capital in 1957 and its foundation stone was laid in March 1958.
Building a Nation Between Two Worlds
Moktar Ould Daddah, the first Mauritanian to graduate from a university, was admitted to the bar in Dakar in 1955. He became vice-president of the government council in May 1957. At the Aleg congress in May 1958 he merged the main parties into the Parti du Regroupement Mauritanien. The PRM sought to unite the Moorish majority with the Black African communities of the Senegal River valley. Morocco's Istiqlal party claimed Mauritania as part of a 'Greater Morocco', and some Mauritanian politicians sided with Rabat.
Independence and Recognition
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania was proclaimed within the French Community on 28 November 1958. Its constitution followed on 22 March 1959. Ould Daddah proclaimed full independence at Nouakchott on 28 November 1960. On 4 December 1960 the Soviet Union vetoed Mauritania's UN application in retaliation for the Security Council's refusal to consider Mongolia's. The deadlock ended with a package deal, and Mauritania and Mongolia were admitted on 27 October 1961.
Chronology
- 1903 — French protectorate established under Coppolani
- 1920 — Mauritania becomes a colony of French West Africa
- March 1958 — Foundation stone of Nouakchott laid
- May 1958 — PRM founded at the Aleg congress
- November 28, 1958 — Islamic Republic of Mauritania proclaimed
- November 28, 1960 — Independence
- October 27, 1961 — Admitted to the United Nations after a Soviet veto in December 1960
Aftermath
Ould Daddah merged the parties into the Parti du Peuple Mauritanien in 1961 and formalised a one-party state in 1964. After the 1975 Madrid Accords Mauritania annexed the southern part of Western Sahara. The war against the Polisario Front that followed was costly and led to his overthrow by the military on 10 July 1978.
Legacy
Mauritania's identity remains divided between its Arab-Berber and Black African populations. The legacy of slavery shadows the nation: it was abolished only in 1981 and made a criminal offence in 2007.