Haratin: The repressive political climate in Mauritania
The outlawed political party called Radical pour une Action Global or Radical for global action (RAG) calls on the government of Mauritania to respect the principle of democracy in particular a multi-partite system in democracy and to immediately stop of criminalization of RAG members.
RAG is the political party of the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, known as IRA-Mauritania whose objective is to eradicate all forms of slavery in Mauritania. Although this political organization exists and is supported by a large number of people the current government of Mauritania refuses to recognize it, rather the local authorities have been repressing RAG members since its foundation.
The RAG denounces the authoritarian excesses of the power of the president Mohamed Ould Cheikh Ghazouani and his Minister of the Interior Mohamd Ahmed Ould Mohamed Lemine who “ resort to iniquitous, provocative and disloyal or even cynical methods and practices in order to eliminate political adversaries” which includes death threats, repression, mass arbitrary incarceration and arrest of RAG supporters .
More recently, on the 12th of November 2022 the leader of the Ira-M, Biram Dah Abeid and his friends met Hamoud Ould Mane, representative of Reform and Global Action (Rag ) where they were approached by a police officer who stated “I have been sent by my superiors to tell you that you are strictly forbidden to hold meetings here in Akjoujt and I am responsible with my elements for enforcing this instruction” which later led to the reinforcement of the blockade of the activists by dozens of heavily armed agents.
Moreover, it was also reported to the UNPO that Mauritanian authorities threaten and harass the supporter of the IRA-M and RAG to debilitate and dissuade people to join the peaceful and democratic movement, creating an environment of fear which deprive Mauritanian citizens from freely enjoying their rights to freedom of association.
The political party, RAG, also faces a lot of several obstacles during its political activities. Beside not being officially and legally granted the registration to form a political party, the RAG faces relentlessness by the local authority, aiming to eliminate any political opposition in the next presidential election, including the RAG. This shows the partial and undemocratic system in Mauritania, nevertheless, the members of the IRA-M along with the RAG publicly declared their motivation to pursue their political activity.
