Global Voices Online

Algerian blogger The Moor Next Door takes a closer look at Khatou mint El Boukhari, the wife of Mauritania’s former president, has been blamed by many for her husband’s downfall.

Algerian blogger The Moor Next Door discusses Morocco's take on the Mauritania coup. Among them is “asserting itself as a regional problem solver and power broker.”

The sword of truth condemns the recent coup d'état in Mauritania as it contravene's the protocols of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). He concludes: “The military remain to be only an impediment to democracy in Mauritania”.

Polish, Latvian and Lithuanian fishers are robbing Mauritania of its fish - all because “the EU has methodically depleted fish stocks in its own waters, and now, it is buying fish quotas from poor countries in the third world,” Jonathan Newton reports.

In Africa, rising food prices [Fr] have led to protests in Morocco, Mauritania, Cote d'Ivoire, DRC and Senegal, writes the ADP blog.

Mauritania has made slavery a criminal offense, but Vive la Francophonie wonders if slavery can be abolished by laws alone (Fr). “Slavery is a mental attitude as old as humanity…The problem of slavery is in large part psychological,” Francophonie writes. “Mauritania, like the rest of the world, should fight against slavery on the psychological level by affirming the value of the human spirit.”

African journalists working in France are calling on the two remaining French presidential candidates, Nicolas Sarkozy and Segolene Royal, to begin a new chapter in Franco-African relations (Fr), according to the blog of the Alliance for Democratic Progress. “We have to reconsider everything, make a fresh start, a sort of “big bang,” so that France stops treating us like children. Africa must be a partner.” (Fr)

The CRIDEM blog points to a press release by Ould Maouloud stating [Fr}: “The March 25, 2007 election happened in good conditions marked by transparency, civic duty, responsibility and serenity. The Mauritanian people and its democracy are only better for it… In this occasion, I want to pay homage to the 48% if Mauritanians who have … voted for really change.”