MAURITANIA

      Keys events

1960 (28 November)

Independence proclaimed. Mokhtar Ould Daddah becomes Chief of State.

1961 (20 May)

Constitution promulgated. Mauritania adopts a Presidential-type constitution.

1961 (27 October)

Joins UN.

1961 (December)

Creation of the Party of the Mauritanian people (Parti du Peuple Mauritanien – PPM). Mokhtar Ould Daddah becomes its Secretary General.

1965 (12 January)

The PPM becomes the only legal party.

1966 (February)

Ethnic conflict between Blacks and Moors further to the Decree on the Arabisation of the Education System.

1966 (7 August)

Mokhtar Ould Daddah re-elected President of the Republic.

1969-1973

Student and social unrest.

1969 (September)

Morocco recognises Mauritania.

1971 (21 June)

Mokhtar Ould Daddah is elected President of the OAU.

1971 (9 August)

Mokhtar Ould Daddah is re-elected President of the Republic.

1971 (August)

General strikes at MIFERMA (iron mines).

1972 (11 March)

Creation by Senegal, Mali and Mauritania of the Senegal River Development Organisation (Organisation pour la Mise en Valeur du Fleuve Sénégal - OMVS).

1973 (29 June)

Leaves the Franc Zone. New currency, the Ouguiya, issued.

1973 (4 December)

Becomes a member of the Arab League.

1974 (November)

The MIFERMA is nationalised and replaced by the Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM).

1975 (14 November)

Agreement with Morocco and Spain on the Western Sahara. The territory is shared out between Morocco (2/3) and Mauritania (1/3).

1975 (December)

Attacks on Mauritania by the Polisario (abbreviation standing for the Front for the Liberation of the Saguia El-Hamram and the Rio de Oro), an armed movement seeking to create an independent State in the Western Sahara.

1976 (January)

The Mauritanian army takes possession of the region of Dakhla that it had been granted in the Western Sahara. It becomes the 13^th region of Mauritania and is renamed Tiris El-Gharbia.

1976 (8 August)

Mokhtar Ould Daddah is re-elected President of the Republic.

1977 (May)

Polisario raid on Zouerate. The Moroccan army supports the army of Mauritania.

1977 (December)

Intervention of the French army against the Polisario (Opération Lamantin).

1978 (10 July)

Military coup d’état. Power is seized by the Military Committee for National Recovery (Comité Militaire pour le Redressement National – CMRN) under the leadership of Lieutenant-Colonel Mustapha Ould Saleck.

1978 (October)

Ceasefire between the Polisario and Mauritania.

1979 (6 April)

The Military Committee for National Salvation (Comité Militaire pour le Salut National - CMSN) replaces the CMRN and Lieutenant-Colonel Ahmed Ould Bouceif, its Vice-President, becomes Prime Minister.

1979 (31 May)

Ahmed Ould Bouceif dies in a plane accident. Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Khouna Ould Haïdallah succeeds him as Prime Minister.

1979 (3 June)

Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly replaces Mustapha Ould Saleck who resigns as President of the CMSN.

1979 (5 August)

Algiers Agreement with the Polisario. Mauritania gives up its claim to Tiris el-Gharbia.

1980 (4 January)

Mr Louly is deposed by Ould Haïdallah.

1980 (15 December)

Civilian government put together under the leadership of Sid’Ahmed Ould Bneïjara.

1981 (16 March)

Failure of an attempted coup d’état led by an opposition party, the Alliance for a Democratic Mauritania (Alliance pour une Mauritanie Démocratique – AMD) supported by Morocco. Diplomatic relations with Morocco broken off.

1981 (25 April)

End of the civilian government and nomination of Lieutenant-Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed as Prime Minister.

1982 (February)

Discovery of a plot against the Chief of State involving ex-President Ould Saleck, ex-Prime Minster Ould Bneïjara and ex-Interior Minister Ould Mohamed Laghdaf.

1984 (February)

Arab Republic of the Western Sahara recognised.

1984 (12 December)

Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed replaces Ould Haïdallah as Head of State.

1986 (19-26 Dec.)

Municipal elections in the regional capitals.

1987 (October)

A plot by black officers of the FLAM (Forces de Libération des Africains de Mauritanie - Forces for the Liberation of the Africans of Mauritania) is foiled.

1989 (13 January)

First elections in 164 rural communes.

1989 (April)

Bloody racial clashes in Senegal and Mauritania. Large-scale expulsions of Black Africans to Senegal and of Mauritanians from Senegal.

1989 (August)

Diplomatic relations broken off with Senegal.

1990 (7 December)

Municipal elections.

1991 (12 July)

New Constitution adopted by referendum.

1991 (25 July)

Law passed authorising political parties, except Islamic parties, and establishing freedom of the press.

1992 (24 January)

First multipartite presidential election. Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya is elected President of the Republic (62.65% of the votes).

1992 (March-April)

General and Senatorial elections.

1992 (18 April)

The CMSN dissolved. Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar is appointed Prime Minister.

1992 (2 May)

Border between Senegal and Mauritania re-opened.

1994 (5 January)

The General Confederation of the Workers of Mauritania (Confédération Générale des Travailleurs de Mauritanie - CGTM) is the first independent union organisation to be officially recognised.

1994 (30 January)

Municipal elections.

1994 (16 April)

The Democratic and Social Republican Party (PRDS) in power wins 16 seats out of 17 in the Senate. With just one seat, the Union of Democratic Forces (UFD), the opposition party, makes its entry into the Senate.

1995 (22 January)

Violent demonstrations against rises in the price of bread. Opposition leaders and militants arrested.

1996 (2 January)

Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar is dismissed from his functions. He is replaced by Sheik El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna as Prime Minister.

1996 (6 January)

Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar is elected Secretary General of the PRDS.

1996 (13 April)

Elections to renew one third of the Senate: the PRDS wins.

1996 (11 Oct.-19 Oct.)

General elections: the PRDS wins 70 of the 79 seats.

1996 (23 October)

Prime Minister Sheik El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna is kept in his position.

1997 (28 February)

5 opposition parties, including the Union of Democratic Forces (UFD) of Ahmed Ould Daddah and the AC, create a united opposition front.

1997 (12 December)

Presidential elections. Maaouya Sid’Ahmed Taya is re-elected with 90.25% of the votes.

1997 (17 December)

Mohamed Lemine Ould Guig is appointed prime Minister.

1998 (16 November)

Mohamed Lemine Ould Guig is dismissed and replaced by Sheik El Avia Ould Mohamed Khouna.

1999 (29 January)

Municipal elections. The PRDS wins 191 communes out of 208.

2000 (7 June)

Tensions between Mauritania and Senegal over the Fossil valleys. Mauritania denounces the “hegemonic ambitions” of Senegal and its “hostile intentions”.

2000 (17 August)

Creation of the Rally of Democratic Patriots (Rassemblement des Patriotes Démocrates – RPD), an opposition party.

2000 (28 October)

Dissolution of the Union of Democratic Forces (UFD-New Era) of Ahmed Ould Daddah.

Up-date currently in preparation.

Sources used

Afrique contemporaine, quarterly review (La Documentation Française)

AFP Afrique: daily news bulletin from Africa –Agence France Presse

Press Files from the CEAN Document Centre.

    MAURITANIA: