Mauritania
Mauritania is situated in west Africa, to the west is the Atlantic ocean, to the north west the Western Sahara, to the north east , Algeria. To the east is Mali, and to the south west Senegal
Total Area:1,030,700 sq km
Land Borders: Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Western Sahara
Population: 3,177,388
Life Expectancy: 53 years
HIV % Total Poulation:0.6%
Ethnic Groups: mixed Maur/black 40%, Moor 30%, black 30%
Languages:Arabic (official), Pulaar, Soninke, French, Hassaniya, Wolof
Pime Minister:Sidi Mohamed Ould BOUBAKAR
GDP - Per Capita: $2,200
Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976, but relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed TAYA seized power in a coup in 1984. Opposition parties were legalized and a new constitution approved in 1991. Two multiparty presidential elections since then were widely seen as flawed, but October 2001 legislative and municipal elections were generally free and open. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed President TAYA and ushered in a military council headed by Col. Ely Ould Mohamed VALL, which declared it would remain in power for up to two years while it created conditions for genuine democratic institutions and organized elections. For now, however, Mauritania remains an autocratic state, and the country continues to experience ethnic tensions among its black population and different Moor (Arab-Berber) communities.