Category Archives: Mauritania

At least 150 people missing after boat capsizes off coast of Mauritania

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Boat full of people hoping to get to Europe overturns and at least 15 known to have died, UN migration agency says

At least 15 people have died and more than 150 are missing after a boat full of people hoping to make it to Europe capsized off the coast of Mauritania, according to the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

About 300 people had boarded the long, wooden, fishing vessel in The Gambia, roughly 850 miles (1,350km) to the south, spending seven days at sea before the boat overturned on Monday, the agency said in a statement.

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At least 89 migrants dead after boat capsizes off Mauritania, state news agency says

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Dangerous Atlantic ocean route is gaining popularity because of increased vigilance by authorities in the Mediterranean

Nearly 90 migrants bound for Europe died and dozens more are missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Mauritania earlier this week, the state news agency and a local official said on Thursday,

“The Mauritanian coast guard recovered the bodies of 89 people aboard a large traditional fishing boat that capsized on Monday July 1 on the coast of the Atlantic ocean” about four kilometres (2.5 miles) from the country’s south-west city of Ndiago, the state news agency said.

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Three people die after arrests at election protests in Mauritania

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Two died in detention facility and one in hospital, officials say, after protests over Mohamed Ould Ghazouani’s win

Three protesters have died in detention in Mauritania, the interior ministry has said, after mass arrests during protests in the opposition stronghold of Kaédi after the north-west African country’s presidential election outcome.

Officials said protests had turned violent in the southern town near the border with Senegal late on Monday, prompting security forces to confront demonstrators.

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Voters in Mauritania’s fledgling democracy head to the polls

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Mohamed Ould Ghazouani expected to be re-elected in region of Africa where coups have been commonplace

An estimated 2 million people are expected to vote in the presidential election in Mauritania in what could be the desert nation’s first civilian-to-civilian transition.

After independence from France in 1960, the west African state experienced multiple coups in the following years. The fledging democracy has been somewhat stable since 2019, when Mohamed Ould Ghazouani was elected president.

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EU leaders unveil €210m Mauritania deal in bid to curb people-smuggling

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Plan includes energy and infrastructure projects with aim of strengthening stability in Sahel

The head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the Spanish prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, have unveiled plans for a €210m partnership with Mauritania in an attempt to curb people-smuggling to the Canary islands and launch new energy and infrastructure projects benefiting both sides.

Figures soon to be published by Frontex, the EU’s border agency, are expected to show that the number of people risking their lives by making the perilous journey from west African shores to the Spanish islands has risen dramatically in the past year.

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‘I’d never seen a boat come in with so many bodies’: mortal cost of Atlantic migrant route

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Every year thousands of refugees from conflict, climate and instability in Africa board vessels in search of a new life in Europe but hundreds never arrive

At 6.30am on Friday 28 May, three fishermen at work four miles off the southern coast of Tobago spotted a large white boat adrift on the dawn waters of the Caribbean.

As they drew closer, the trio saw the boat’s shape was far from local, and noticed a strong smell coming from inside it. The body the fishermen glimpsed at the bow was enough to confirm their suspicions. They called the coastguard who, unable to dispatch a vessel, asked them to tow the boat ashore at Belle Garden beach.

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My Brother’s Keeper: a former Guantánamo detainee, his guard and their unlikely friendship – video

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Mohamedou Ould Salahi and one of his former guards, Steve Wood, reunite in Mauritania 13 years after last seeing each other, rekindling an unlikely relationship that profoundly changed their lives.

Mohamedou was a prisoner at Guantánamo Bay for 14 years. During his incarceration he was subjected to torture and solitary confinement, but never charged with a crime. His memoir, Guantánamo Diary, became an international bestseller and was adapted into the film, The Mauritanian, starring Tahar Rahim and Jodie Foster.

My Brother's Keeper is BAFTA longlisted for British Short Film 2021.

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West Africa facing food crisis as coronavirus spreads

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Pandemic adds to jihadi and climate change threats to present ‘immense challenge’ for region

More than 43 million people in west Africa are likely to be in urgent need of food assistance in the coming months – double initial estimates – as the Covid-19 outbreak accelerates, the World Food Programme has said.

Food insecurity could also double this year to affect 265 million people across the continent; west Africa, where the outbreak of the virus is most severe, is of increasing concern.

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