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This study provides evidence on the distribution of school attendance and educational attainment across African countries, focusing on the correlation with literacy rates in the population, level of resources and country institutional features. The study also estimate sample correlations between enrolment and macroaggregates, related to resources (GDP per capita, student/teacher ratio), computing some counterfactuals. The authors then move to micro-data, selecting three African countries as representative examples of low (Mauritania), middle (Uganda) and high (Ghana) educational attainment. Using social surveys conducted in these countries, the authors estimate the returns to education in terms of better quality of employment (for those who are in the labour market) and of higher monetary returns (for the sub-sample of those earning a monetary wage). In addition, the authors collapse the data at household level, in order to study the determinants of individual educational attainment of children aged between 5 and 25, showing the correlation between parental education, availability of schools at community level, external shocks (like drought, famine, war) and the individual probability of being in school.

The training of teachers of West Africa is carried out by the Academy of Rouen (France) and organized around an annual training plan approved by the AEFE. Each trainer only supervises twenty teachers for 5 days. Teachers from eight countries (Mauritania, Cape Verde, Senegal, Gambia, Mali, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire and Burkina Faso), come to Dakar for a week. We have been asked four times tn Dakar (Senegal) to provide training for teachers of West Africa. It is all about being trained in order to resolve reading difficulties for students using our scientific research. This paper presents the theoretical framework of phonological awareness and letter names and the 0 phase and the beginning of Phase 1 of our research. We use these predictors as remedial reading difficulties among students aged 8 to 11 years. We present the first results.

Labour productivity in Arab countries is low by international standards and this problem occurs in Arab countries both inside and outside Africa. There are 10 Arab countries in Africa: Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Mauritania, Sudan, Somalia, Djibouti and Comoros. Enhancing labour productivity is a major challenge for Arab countries. Improving labour productivity should increase competitiveness, economic growth, job availability and living standards. Key factors in low Arab labour productivity include weak education and training systems, a mismatch between training outputs and labour market demands, lack of technology and innovation and poor management of the workforce. This article seeks to put forward innovative education and training policies which can enhance labour productivity. It does so after examining Arab education and training systems and their links with industry. It is concluded that modern governance arrangements need to be applied in Arab universities. Universities need to be re-envisioned so that curricula are market-driven and bridge the gap between education supply and market demand. Entrepreneurial teaching and learning practices need to be emphasized and improved technical and vocational training should be a priority. The Arab countries also have to adopt responsive and practical strategies for research and development and link the research and development institutes to industry.

This paper calculates a human Wellbeing Composite Index (WCI) for 42 countries, belonging to the European Economic Space, North Africa and the Middle East, as an alternative to the shortcomings of other well-known measures of socio-economic development (i.e. Gross Domestic Product per head and Human Development Index). To attain this goal, different data envelopment analysis (DEA) models are used as an aggregation tool for seven selected socio-economic variables which correspond to the following wellbeing dimensions: income per capita, environmental burden of disease, income inequality, gender gap, education, life expectancy at birth and government effectiveness. The use of DEA allows avoiding the subjectivity that would be involved in the exogenous determination of weights for the variables included in WCI. The aim is to establish a complete ranking of all countries in the sample, using a three-step process, with the last step consisting in the use of a model that combines DEA and compromise programming, and permits to obtain a set of common weights for all countries in the analysis. The results highlight the distance that still separates Southern Mediterranean countries from the benchmark levels established by some European countries, and also point to the main weaknesses in individual countries' performance. Nordic countries, plus Switzerland, top the list of best performers, while Mauritania, Libya and Syria appear at the bottom.

As technology continues to advance, libraries in Europe and America continue to improve upon their virtual reference services by employing new Web technologies and applying them to existing services. West African academic libraries have begun providing resources electronically to their users but still typically lag behind in the services they offer. This research investigated virtual reference services offered by 79 academic libraries in ten West African countries. It was found that less than 40% provide any virtual reference service including phone, fax or email, and almost none take advantage of more advanced technologies such as chat or text messaging. (Contains 2 tables.)

This case study analyzes the introduction of democracy and human rights into the educational program of Tostan, a nongovernmental organization working in Africa. The authors show how Tostan's original educational approach created a meaningful context for integrating democracy and human rights into its curriculum, a process that took place from 1995 to 2003. The integration produced unexpected results: a participant-led social movement to end harmful practices such as female genital cutting and child and/or forced marriage. After describing the phases of curricular revision in the case, the authors draw out themes to show how the phases interacted to produce social transformation. A visioning exercise at the beginning of the program created a discursive context for the introduction of democracy and human rights, the democracy and human rights sessions created critical reflection about past practices, and awareness of an international human rights framework emboldened participants to undertake actions that created new social norms.

We utilized Global Adult Tobacco Survey data to examine singlestick purchases and related demographic characteristics in 10 African countries (Botswana, Cameroon, Ethiopia, Kenya, Nigeria, Mauritania, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and Tanzania). Results show the weighted percentages and prevalence ratios with predicted marginal means to evaluate significant differences between groups (P  < 0.05). The prevalence of singlestick purchases among the 10 African countries ranged from 48.4% in South Africa to 92.0% in Tanzania. Across countries, the incidence of singlestick purchases was higher in urban areas than rural areas in Kenya; among those aged 15–24 years versus those aged 45 years and older in Botswana, Ethiopia, Mauritania, Nigeria and South Africa; and among those aged 25–44 years versus those aged 45 years and older in Botswana, South Africa and Tanzania. The incidence in Botswana was higher among adults with no formal or primary education than among those with secondary or higher education. In South Africa, the incidence was higher among adults in the middle or lower wealth index than among those in the high or highest wealth index. The findings suggest opportunities for strengthening efforts to prevent singlestick purchases through effective legislation and enforcement in line with Article 16 of the World Health Organization Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Climate change, environmental degradation, and descent-based slavery are prevailing issues in Mauritania. The relationship between the three phenomena has rarely elicited investigation, in part due to the perception that chattel slavery is an institution of the past. Despite being the last country in the world to decree its abolition in 1981, Mauritania is alleged to have one of the highest incidences of slavery in the world today. This study explores the nexus between climate change and slavery in Mauritania. The paper seeks to elucidate how the environmental interactions of the Sahel have transformed slavery's manifestation in this multiethnic northwest African republic for more than a millennium. The author contributes to the rich literature on slavery in Mauritania by arguing that in the twenty-first century, the nexus converges on the issue of development, and that the prevalence of slavery degrades the country's precarious environment and contributes to its underdevelopment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Quantitative data on cephalopods collected in ten multidisciplinary surveys (20–2000 m) between 2004 and 2012, together with original oceanographic and satellite data, were analyzed using multivariate techniques. Statistical analyses were based on presence–absence matrices by species and hydrological variable indices. The results show that cephalopods are distributed in two main zoogeographical groups separated by latitude: "Temperate water" and "Tropical water" clusters. They extended by temperate and tropical regions, separated by a geographical boundary, Cape Blanc, particularly strong in the case of coastal species between these groups. For the total fauna, we have identified a third particular cephalopods' cluster, the "Upwelling" cluster (22°–17°N), characterized by a higher diversity and dominance of oceanic cephalopods. This is proposed as a new zoogeographical region that would coincide with the area of greatest productivity, intensity and permanence throughout the year of the canary current upwelling, confined between the north of Cape Blanc and the south of Mauritania. The results confirm the strong relationship between the three zoogeographical regions (temperate, tropical, and upwelling) and certain water bodies that characterize the regional hydrology. This paper deepens into the zoogeography of the cephalopods from Northwest Africa (Central-Eastern Atlantic), providing a new, more detailed insight into the region and its boundaries in relation to the oceanography. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For decades, humans have been confronted with numerous pest species, with the desert locust being one of the most damaging and having the greatest socio-economic impact. Trying to predict the occurrence of such pests is often complicated by the small number of records and observations in databases. This paper proposes a methodology based on a combination of classification and regression techniques to address not only the problem of locust sightings prediction, but also the number of locust individuals that may be expected. For this purpose, we apply different machine learning (ML) and related techniques, such as linear regression, Support Vector Machines, decision trees, random forests and neural networks. The considered ML algorithms are evaluated in three different scenarios in Western Africa, mainly Mauritania, and for the elaboration of the forecasting process, a number of meteorological variables obtained from the ERA5 reanalysis data are used as input variables for the classification–regression machines. The results obtained show good performance in terms of classification (appearance or not of desert locust), and acceptable regression results in terms of predicting the number of locusts, a harder problem due to the small number of samples available. We observed that the RF algorithm exhibited exceptional performance in the classification task (presence/absence) and achieved noteworthy results in regression (number of sightings), being the most effective machine learning algorithm among those used. It achieved classification results, in terms of F-score, around the value of 0.9 for the proposed Scenario 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The annular Richat Structure, in Mauritania, is among the most striking geological features on Earth visible from space. Nicknamed "the Eye of Africa", its intriguing concentric shaping has drawn attention for several decades. Formerly hypothesized as an astrobleme, it is now consensually recognized as a complex igneous intrusion, involving two ring-like gabbroic bodies, a central breccia and carbonatite dykes. However, the coexistence of until now undated tholeiitic gabbros and 99 Ma carbonatites akin to alkaline magmatism remained enigmatic. We provide the first plagioclase 40Ar/39Ar age determination and new geochemical data on the gabbroic bodies. Although no robust age was obtained, numerical modelling of our results suggests that the gabbros were intruded between 230 and 200 Ma. This age bracket is compatible with the ∼200 Ma Central Atlantic Magmatic Province (CAMP). Moreover, the compositions of these tholeiitic gabbros match the two chemical groups of the CAMP the best represented in northwest Africa. Therefore, we argue that the Richat gabbros correspond to two CAMP sills intruded conformably into the Late Proterozoic/Lower Paleozoic sedimentary sequences of the Taoudenni basin. About 100 My later, the gabbros and their country rocks were locally uplifted by an alkaline intrusion (expressed now on surface by the carbonatites), resulting in a circular doming, 40 km in diameter. The subsequent erosion led to the actual flattened concentric structure. Therefore, the Richat Structure represents a two-stage igneous-history, separated by a time lapse of ∼100 My, resulting in two CAMP gabbroic sills mimicking ring-like bodies. • The annular Richat structure is one of the most striking geological features on Earth. • Magmatic rocks are present as carbonatites and tholeiitic gabbros. • We provide the first plagioclase 40Ar/39Ar age determination on gabbros. • Gabbros were intruded ≈ 200My ago, contemporaneously with the CAMP. • The Richat structure formed during two magmatic events separated by ≈100 My. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Radionuclides from the reactor accident Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant were observed in the airborne aerosols at CTBT International Monitoring System (IMS) stations (MRP43, CMP13) in Africa. The maximum activity concentrations in the air measured in Mauritania were 186.44 10−6 Bq.m−3, 264.16 10−6 Bq.m−3 and 1269.94 10−6 Bq.m−3 for 134Cs, 137Cs and 131I respectively, and in Cameroon 16.42 10−6 Bq.m−3, 25.53 10−6 and 37.58 10−6 Bq.m−3 respectively for 134Cs, 137Cs and 131I. The activity ratio of 134Cs/137Cs is almost constant throughout the period of time relevant to this study due to their long half-lives of 30.2 years for 137Cs and 2.06 years for 134Cs. Whereas the 131I/137Cs activity ratio varies in time according to the radioactive decay with a half-live of 8.06 days for 131I and different removal rates of both radionuclides from the atmosphere during transport. The EMAC atmospheric chemistry-general circulation was used to simulate the emission and transport of the isotope 137Cs and map the deposition of the 137Cs deposition over Africa. • IMS stations in Africa (MRP43, CMP13) detected first 131I, caesium isotopes appearing with a delay of 6 days in Cameroon and 4 days for 134Cs in Mauritania. • The highest activity concentrations of fission products were found in Mauritania. • The EMAC atmospheric chemistry-general circulation was used to simulate the emission and transport of the isotope 137Cs and map the deposition of the 137Cs deposition over Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To better understand production, succession, excystment and transport of dinoflagellate cysts (dinocysts) and planktonic foraminifera in the upper water column, we investigated their fluxes during a 7-day survey in the active upwelling off Cape Blanc (NW Africa) in November 2018 with drifting traps at 100 m, 200 m and 400 m water depth. The survey covered a change from active upwelling to stratified conditions. Highest production of organic dinocysts and planktonic foraminifera was observed during active upwelling conditions and decreased drastically towards the end of the survey. Calcareous dinocysts appeared later during upwelling relaxation. Cytoplasm-bearing (full) dinocysts and foraminifera were produced in the water column above the traps (<100 m depth). Some of the empty dinocysts were resuspended, implying that sediments below the survey site contain both local and allochthonous cyst assemblages. This is the first demonstration that excystment in the upper water column is species-specific. Brigantedinium excysted in the upper water column before reaching deeper depths, whereas no upper water column excystment was observed for the other dinoflagellate species. Dinoflagellate and planktonic foraminifera associations showed a clear succession. During active upwelling, Echinidinium zonneveldiae, Brigantedinium spp., other peridinioids, Echinidinium spp., cysts of Pentapharsodinium dalei, 'other photosynthetic organic-walled dinocysts', Neogloboquadrina incompta and Globigerinella calida were collected. During upwelling relaxation, Lingulodinium machaerophorum was produced; and under stratified conditions Gymnodiniaceae cysts (G. microreticulatum, G. catenatum) and the foraminifera Globigerina bulloides and Orbulina universa were sampled. Apart from enhancing knowledge of these species, our observations allow more detailed reconstructions of upwelling history in the Cape Blanc region based on sedimentary archives using fossilized dinoflagellate and planktonic foraminifera assemblages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Marine fish stocks are increasingly being exploited to unsustainable levels. Yet, knowledge of basic biological and ecological traits of species, required to sustain fisheries management at a local scale, remains scarce. We investigated the reproductive biology and growth of two marine catfishes: rough-head sea catfish (Arius latiscutatus) and Guinean sea catfish (Carlarius parkii). Both species showed one spawning season between May and June. Nevertheless, as these are mouth brooding species, we have considered that the reproduction season may be underway until August. Mean fork length of females at first maturity was ∼40 cm for A. latiscutatus and 35 cm for C. parkii, corresponding to 4–5 years for both species. Higher fecundity was found in larger females, with a mean of 45 and 26 eggs for A. latiscutatus and C. parkii, respectively. Differences recorded in sex ratio throughout the year suggest that females can leave the study area after the spawning season or that differences in behaviour may lead to differential sex catchability. The two species showed similar growth curves, despite A. latiscutatus reaching larger lengths at the same age. Estimated length–weight relationships suggest that both species present a positive isometric growth pattern. Our results highlight the slow life-history strategy of the two studied catfish species, thus emphasizing their vulnerability to fishing activities. We suggest that a short-term fishing closure during the spawning period (May–June) in the PNBA may be an important management measure to ensure reproduction opportunities for both species and, therefore, guarantee fishing sustainability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Thermocline‐dwelling foraminifera calcify over a depth range of several hundred meters; analysis of individual shells therefore allows insight to the hydrography of the upper water column. We analyzed δ18O, δ13C, and Mg/Ca of individual tests of the planktonic foraminifera Globorotalia inflata from a sediment core (GeoB7926‐2) obtained from 20°N in the eastern tropical Atlantic. To facilitate sample throughput, tests were cleaned before Mg/Ca analysis using a pipette robot. The eight samples came from five time periods with contrasting climate states. Median reconstructed temperatures were lowest during the warmth of the Bølling Allerød BA) (11.8°C), while highest temperatures (>14°C) were recorded during the cold periods of the Last Glacial Maximum (LGM), late Heinrich Stadial 1 (HS1), and the Younger Dryas (YD). Southward shift in the subtropical gyre during Northern Hemisphere cold periods and modulation by upwelling could explain the temperature change but not all of the salinity change. δ18Oseawater‐IVC indicated that salinity was higher than the global average during the LGM, with very high salinity excursions in HS1 and a smaller excursion in the YD. The upwelling signature was most strongly imprinted on range in δ13C. The large changes in salinity and δ13C between time slices cannot be explained by upwelling intensity but indicate the presence of a very saline water mass, with low δ13C, in the eastern North Atlantic subsurface during Northern Hemisphere cold periods. Key Points: Mg/Ca and stable isotope data from single tests of Globorotalia inflata indicate warm and saline central waters off NW Africa during the Last Glacial Maximum, Heinrich Stadial 1, and the Younger DryasHigh salinity and low δ13C indicate a change in water mass properties over the last 22 kaReduced standard deviation of individual δ13C values within a sample is indicative of increased upwelling [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2022, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimated that hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections caused 1.5 million deaths, mostly attributable to complications from chronic infections, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Despite the availability of a vaccine, 296 million people were chronically infected in 2019. Asia and Africa are the continents most affected by this infection, with around 100 million people infected in Africa as a whole.Hepatitis Delta or D virus (HDV), which is a "satellite" virus of HBV, is often misunderstood and its diagnosis remains neglected. However, it is associated with acute fulminant forms and chronic forms of hepatitis leading to a more rapid evolution towards cirrhosis and HCC than during HBV mono-infection. Research on these two viruses HBV and HDV has progressed a lot in recent years, and new treatments are currently in development.In people living with the human immunodeficiency virus (PlHIV), liver disease is a major cause of morbidity and mortality. Due to common modes of transmission, dual or triple HIV/HBV or HIV/HBV/HDV infections are relatively common, particularly in HBV endemic regions such as Africa. However, while today most co-infected patients benefit from effective treatment against both HIV and HBV, the latter is not active against HDV. In Africa, hepatitis B and D have already been the subject of several studies. However, the frequency and clinical consequences of these co-infections have been little studied in the general population and in PlHIV.This review seeks to update the epidemiological and clinical data and the therapeutic perspectives of HDV co-infections or triple infections (HIV-HBV-HDV) in Africa., (Copyright © 2023 SFMTSI.)

Background: Persistent low membership is observed in many community-based health insurance (CBHI) schemes in Africa. Causes for low membership have been identified and solutions suggested, but this did not result in increased membership. In this case study of the mutual health organisation of Dar Naïm in Mauritania we explore the underlying drivers that may explain why membership continued to stagnate although several plans for change had been designed.Methods: We used a systems approach focussed on processes, underlying dynamics and complex interactions that produce the outcomes, to delve into 10 years of data collected between 2003 and 2012. We used qualitative research methods to analyse the data and interpret patterns.Results: Direct causes of stagnation and possible solutions had been identified in the early years of operations, but most of the possible solutions were not implemented. A combination of reasons explains why consecutive action plans were not put into practice, showing the complexity of implementation and the considerable management capacity required, as well as the challenges of integrating a novel organisational structure into exiting social structures.Conclusions: For any CBHI project aiming at high membership, skilled professional management seems essential, with capacity to question and adapt routine procedures and interpret interactions within the wider society. Countries that include community-based health insurance in their strategic plan towards universal coverage will have to pay more attention to management capacity and the minutiae of implementation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article examines events involving accusations of bloodsucking in the southwestern Sahara. French colonial archives allow researchers to identify specific cases in time and location; however, this article seeks to address but then move beyond histories of colonial governance. To highlight how communities in the Saharan desert dealt with crises provoked by environmental and social change, this investigation also relies on locally-produced written legal opinions and oral testimony. Emerging from these Saharan sources is one facet of how desert communities envisioned the enchantment of their social worlds and understood difficult periods caused by famine, weak economies, and domestic tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT Academic work on transitional justice has tended to focus on the most obvious and institutionalized sites where ideas about justice and transition are discussed or contested, such as truth commissions or international tribunals. Yet, there are many other sites where such ideas are framed, circulated or challenged, including sites outside transitional countries. Drawing on the case of Mauritania, where the repatriation of refugees has played a highly symbolic role during the latest 'democratic' transition, this article explores the specific roles played by refugee aid and past experiences of refugee life in shaping the terms of new beginnings in this country. As places of intense politicization of memory and appropriation of transnational discourses on human rights violations and transitional justice, refugee camps enhance the construction of new imagined communities based on a feeling of victimhood and abnormality and the construction of hegemonic narratives over the 'just order' to be aspired to for the future. The article outlines how such hegemonic ideas on justice and transition are shaped by humanitarian actors and the refugee elite, while at the same time being contested by subaltern groups through the production of alternative accounts of past injustices and through mundane practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background The increasing global importance of Rift Valley fever (RVF) is clearly demonstrated by its geographical expansion. The presence of a wide range of host and vector species, and the epidemiological characteristics of RVF, have led to concerns that epidemics will continue to occur in previously unaffected regions of Africa. The proximity of the Sahrawi territories of Western Sahara to endemic countries, such as Mauritania, Senegal, and Mali with periodic isolation of virus and serological evidence of RVF, and the intensive livestock trade in the region results in a serious risk of RVF spread in the Sahrawi territories, and potentially from there to the Maghreb and beyond. A sero-epidemiological survey was conducted in the Saharawi territories between March and April 2008 to investigate the possible presence of the RVF virus (RVFV) and associated risk factors. A two-stage cluster sampling design was used, incorporating 23 sampling sites. Results A total of 982 serum samples was collected from 461 sheep, 463 goats and 58 camels. Eleven samples (0.97%) tested positive for IgG against the RVFV. There were clusters of high seroprevalence located mostly in the Tifariti (7.69%) and Mehaires (7.14%) regions, with the Tifariti event having been found in one single flock (4/26 positive animals). Goats and older animals were at a significantly increased risk being seropositive (p = 0.007 and p = 0.007, respectively). Conclusion The results suggest potential RVF activity in the study area, where intense livestock movement and trade with neighbouring countries might be considered as a primary determinant in the spread of the disease. The importance of a continuous field investigation is reinforced, in light of the risk of RVF expansion to historically unaffected regions of Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Sura headings, and the information they convey, were formulated well after the Qur'anic revelation itself. Furthermore, they were not determined by authoritative, standardising decisions, as was the case for the Qur'anic text, which has come down to us ne varietur. Given the geographical extension attained by the Islamic world in the course of its history, and in the absence of normalisation due to the disappearance of a centralised power, local variations in sura headings are only to be expected. This is, in effect, the case for Africa. The sampling of Qur'an manuscripts considered here is compared to the standard Egyptian edition of 1923, and reveals differences not only in the titles of the suras but also in the other types of information associated with them, such as indications concerning the place of revelation and the number of verses in each sura. In addition, in some areas, headings are not usually committed to writing, whereas in other local traditions, they may be quite long and contain multiple elements of information. Though these variations may appear to be minor, they are of interest in a comparative perspective, taking into account different zones and eras - especially so if one seeks to discern local identities in the presentation of Qur'an manuscripts. The ones analysed here all come from the Saharo-Sahelian zone: Mauritania (2), Mali (1), Chad (2) and Somalia (1). They are dated to the nineteenth century, with the exception of one early twentieth-century manuscript. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sugarcane, once a vital component of the Mauritian economy, now makes up less than 10% of GDP. The land on which it grows (and grew), however, remains essential to the island's politico-economic power balance. Large tracts of land are still owned by Franco-Mauritians, the island's white former colonial elite, thus leading to an ambiguous relationship between landowners and the government in postcolonial Mauritius. This article argues that both resentment and collaboration contribute to the consolidation of the Franco-Mauritian elite position. Pressure from the state may have compelled Franco-Mauritians to redistribute some of their land, but this ‘pay-off’ hardly jeopardised their elite position. Their striking a balance between opposing redistribution and giving in to government demands is key to explaining how landed (white) elites are, in the absence of (state) violence, able to maintain their position long after the end of colonialism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The oral poetic tradition in Hassaniya Arabic emerged as a distinct trans-Saharan genre in present-day Mauritania in the pre-colonial era, fusing stylistic features of classical Arabic poetry with the musical heritage and griot1 traditions of neighbouring sub-Saharan cultures. As a popular musical art performed in a colloquial dialect, Hassani poetry is accessible to a range of social classes, and mastery of composition signifies linguistic prowess and social prestige. Drawing on ethnographic research with male and female Sahrawi poets in 2006–07, this article traces the roots of oral poetry in Hassaniya-speaking communities in northwest Africa and discusses recent shifts in modes of transmission, performance contexts, and poetic content. While the proliferation of new media has decreased the apprenticeship of younger poets, Hassani poetry has maintained an active following among mixed age groups. In the context of the protracted international conflict over the Western Sahara, the genre has gained new visibility as part of larger national projects to promote Sahrawi cultural heritage and advance opposing political agendas. Examples from Sahrawi poets in southern Morocco, Western Sahara,2 and refugee camps in Algeria demonstrate how the genre serves as a discursive strategy in critiquing modern urban culture, employing social capital, and supporting the political rhetoric of nationalist movements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Why did Mauritania, an Arab League member, undergo a short-lived democratic transition after a successful coup in 2005? Mauritania's democratisation is puzzling because it occurred despite the presence of two conditions that are thought to hinder the prospects of democracy: poverty and strategic importance to the West. We trace the democratisation process undertaken by Mauritania's successful coup leaders in 2005 by focusing on the regime's foreign aid sources. We find that because coup leaders overthrew a Western ally, they feared aid flows would decline. The coup leaders therefore calculated that democratisation would shore up ties by signalling that the new regime was committed to maintaining a strong relationship with Western donors. Our findings have important implications for top-down democratisation in North Africa and the Middle East. Strategic importance appears to be a matter of degree, and states with modest importance to donors, such as Mauritania, may use democratisation as a means to posture themselves as valuable to powerful external actors. Democratic reforms, however, can have sticking power and trap future aid-dependent elites who attempt to strategically manipulate domestic reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Almoravid Movement arose in Africa, in the east of Mauritania, in the region of Sahra in the 5/11th century. Stretching through the midland between Ghana and Susulaksa, this region was inhabited by tribes that belonged to the Nomadic Berber Sanhaja Tribe. The founder of the Almoravid Movement was Abdullah b. Yasin, who went to Sahra while he was a student at a ribat (monastery fortress) in the town of Nefis, Maghrib al Aqsa, at the invitation of Yahya b. İbrahim, one of the tribal chieftains in the region. In Sahra, where he was invited in order to give religious teachings, he soon came in for huge reactions for his activities. Therefore he abandoned Sahra with a small group of followers, withdrawing to an island on the Senegal River. He continued to perform religious preachings at the ribat he founded there. With his adherents increasing greatly in a short time, he combined his religious instruction with military training and political education. Thus he led to the emergence of the Alomoravid Movement and soon became strong enough to conquer Sahra and Maghrib al Aqsa. The present study deals with the rise of the Almoravid Movement which was initiated by Abdullah b. Yasin. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article inquires into the relationship between the state and the Fulaa ɓe, a Fulani community with pastoral and nomadic origins in Mauritania. First, it shows the state-driven process of Fulaa ɓe marginalization by analyzing elites' discourses on these ''bushmen'' and their hegemonic forms of government (administrative control, patronage relationships, ''ethnic'' persecutions, and so forth). Then, it discusses how the Fulaa ɓe have found spaces for agency and political mobilization. By recasting the analysis into the Gramscian theoretical framework, the article aims at participating in the political anthropological reflection on hegemony and resistance and in the dialogue on state--society relationships in Africa. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2010, UCDP recorded 30 active armed conflicts (i.e. with a minimum of 25 battle-related deaths). This is a substantial reduction in relation to the 36 conflicts registered for 2009. A drop of this magnitude has only been reported four times previously in the post-1946 period. However, only in two of these instances was this part of a general downward trend. Thus no major inferences should be drawn, except perhaps that the reduction in conflicts in Africa seems to be part of a trend. At 30 in 2010, the number of active conflicts is at its lowest level since 2003. Furthermore, the number of wars (1,000 or more battle-related deaths) declined from six in 2009 to four in 2010. The most intense war in terms of fatalities was in Afghanistan. Eight of the armed conflicts listed for 2009 were not active in 2010, but during the year two new conflicts erupted – Mauritania and Tajikistan – both involving rebel groups that had previously fought in neighbouring countries. Only two peace agreements were concluded during the year. While this is one more than 2009, it is decidedly below the annual average for the post-Cold War period. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article discusses the West African country of Mauritania, as an example of democratization and decentralization in Africa. Topics include the socio-anthropology of development as a motivation for the renewal of political anthropology, the tangle of social logics in the context of the decentralization and democratization in Mauritania, and the contribution of the study of groups of slave origin in the democratization process.

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Aims This paper describes drinking patterns in 20 African countries, exploring the extent of abstention, heavy occasional drinking and daily light drinking and how these aspects of drinking are inter-related. Design and participants Data were collected as part of the World Health Survey in 2002–04 and comprise national representative data sets from 20 African countries. A cross-sectional survey of 77 165 adults aged 18 years and older were undertaken by face-to-face interviews in respondent households. Measures Drinking behaviour was assessed in terms of life-time abstention and the following measures over the 7 days immediately preceding interview: high consumption (15 or more drinks); heavy drinking occasions (five or more standard units at at least one session) and daily light drinking (one or two drinks daily). Findings In four countries (Comoros, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal), virtually all respondents were life-time abstainers. The prevalence of current drinkers (previous week) did not exceed one-third in any country. Among current drinkers the prevalence of heavy drinking varied between 7% and 77% and the prevalence of daily light drinkers varied between 0% and 21%. Overall drinking patterns varied significantly between and within the examined African countries. Conclusions African drinking patterns are diverse, and although life-time abstinence dominates in African countries, a single typical pattern of drinking for the African continent, such as the alleged ‘all-or-none’ pattern, was not observed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article reports on the 2009 economic and political condition of Africa. In the middle of 2008 there was a rise of coups d'etat, army takeovers, and assassinations within Mauritania, Guinea, and Guinea-Bissau. Off the coast of Somalia there was an uprising of pirates which was responded to by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the European Union, and other countries. Also, the ruling African National Congress was experiencing political unrest.

The article presents abstracts on topics related to religion in Africa, including "Raising the Dead: The Khosa Cattle-Killing and the Mhlakaza-Goliat Delusion," "Reinterpretation of the Historical Development of the Church and State in Lesotho's Educational Partnership," and "Reformism As a Theme in Hausa Religio-Political Poetry."

High rent creates contests for its capture that, unless skilfully managed, degrade political institutions and distort the economy, leading to a collapse of growth if unreformed. Mauritania's projected oil stream risks such an outcome because past rent-driven growth has left a legacy of Dutch disease effects, rent-seeking and dependent social capital. This article proposes a dual-track strategy for deploying the oil rent as a politically practical means of managing social tensions and improving the economic outcome. Track one promotes a dynamic market economy in the hitherto neglected rural areas, while track two gradually reforms the rent-driven urban sector, thus postponing confrontation with established rent-seekers while the dynamic sector drives competitive diversification of the economy and builds a pro-reform political constituency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since August 2005, Mauritania has embarked on an ambitious revision process of its political system. This democracy-oriented process and the changes in Mauritanian public life were generated by a military coup, whose leaders sought to alter the country's political structures. These efforts have shifted widely held perceptions of Mauritania (as one of the world's poorest and most under-developed countries), indicating that the country may be on the verge of a significant transformation. The regime's aspirations culminated with Mauritania's first free, multi-candidate presidential elections in March 2007. The changes in Mauritania suggest that it could yet outpace its more developed North African neighbours in their efforts to initiate political reforms, and present a new regional model. This article probes the changes in Mauritania, and discusses the possibility of considering the country as a regional model that could affect broader reform currents within the Maghrib's political system. As most North African societies wrestle with the idea of political reform and its implementation, Mauritania's recent experiences offer lessons that could be of interest across the region. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section presents abstracts related to religion in Africa. They include "An Extraordinary Generation: The Legacy of William Henry Sheppard, the "Black Livingstone" of Africa," "Babies' Baths, Babies' Remembrances: A Beng Theory of Development, History and Memory" and "The Training of Female Medical Auxiliaries in Missionary Hospitals in Northern Rhodesia, 1928-1952."

Mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) variation was analyzed in Mauritania and Mali, and compared to other West African samples covering the considerable geographic, ethnic and linguistic diversity of this region. The Mauritanian mtDNA profile shows that 55% of their lineages have a west Eurasian provenance, with the U6 cluster (17%) being the best represented. Only 6% of the sub-Saharan sequences belong to the L3A haplogroup a frequency similar to other Berber speaking groups but significantly different to the Arabic speaking North Africans. The historic Arab slave trade may be the main cause of this difference. Only one HV west Eurasian lineage has been detected in Mali but 40% of the sub-Saharan sequences belong to cluster L3A. The presence of L0a representatives demonstrates gene flow from eastern regions. Although both groups speak related dialects of the Mande branch, significant genetic differences exist between the Bambara and Malinke groups. The West African genetic variation is well structured by geography and language, but more detailed ethnolinguistic clustering suggest that geography is the main factor responsible for this differentiation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The key importance of the peripheral areas of a frontier-state should be self-evident. At the same time, the history of the geographic margins of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania largely explains their successive fluctuation and their recent location in a manner that, in legal terms, is definitive. In addition, Mauritania is balanced between North and South in Africa such that its identity as a bridge between Black Africa and the Arab World is open to question. One of the most interesting of such questions is to establish how the state has responded, in political, social and economic terms to the double threats of balkanisation and isolation which have dominated its history in contemporary and earlier times. In the North, the Saharan conflict and its potential outcome weigh heavily on the evolution of acute aspects of domestic and foreign policy. In the South and in the East, patterns of events are not self-evident and the social life of frontier regions – smuggling, conflict, communication and the dual loyalties of populations – provide them with an ambiguous nature that sometimes results in violence, as emerged in the conflict with Senegal. This article seeks to confront these issues both in general terms and in terms of their geopolitical and domestic significance for Mauritania. It will draw on historical research and current sociological investigation in analysing significant political events that have had an effect on contemporary Mauritania. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Authoritarian renewal followed the initial phase of democratic reform in Africa in the early 1990s. Most studies of authoritarian restoration analyze the hijack of democratic transition in formal political institutions like elections, parliaments, and the judiciary. However, incumbent authoritarian elites also resort simultaneously to cultural and symbolic strategies. Cultural performances enacted by incumbent authoritarian elites, like presidential tours in the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, contributed to the restoration of authoritarian rule by disseminating signals that strengthened ruling elites' positions and weakened prodemocracy forces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This section offers news briefs on economies of African countries as of April 2013. Zimbabwean Public Service Minister Lucia Matibenga announced a wage increase for public sector workers. The Angolan oil company Sonangol aimed at increasing its oil production in 2015. The economy of Mauritania is expected to grow by 6.8 percent in 2013.