صحافة بلادي صحيفة إلكترونية مغاربية متجددة على مدار الساعة تعنى بشؤون المغرب الجزائر ليبيا موريتانيا تونس
nWakchott –On Sunday evening, the Mauritanian opposition escalated its criticism of the government, accusing it of failing to address the economic and service crises and the inability to combat corruption, during a demonstration organized in the city of Nouadhibou, northwest of the country, days before the start of the expected national dialogue sessions.
The opposition chose the city of Nouadhibou, the second largest city in Mauritania and its economic capital, to organize this protest, in light of the continuing thirst crisis that the city has been suffering from for years, despite the launch of successive government projects to address the water crisis.
The head of the Democratic Opposition Foundation and head of the National Rally for Reform and Development (Tawasul) party, Hammadi Ould Sidi Al-Mukhtar, said that government policies are “a failure in every sense of the word,” considering that the continued water crisis and the failure of Nouadhibou residents to benefit from the natural resources that the region abounds reflect, as he put it, mismanagement of public resources.
He added that citizens are facing difficult living conditions as a result of rising prices, stressing that the opposition had previously presented proposals to address high prices, but they did not receive any interaction from the government.
For his part, the rotating president of the Democratic Opposition Coalition, Mohamed Ould Mouloud, held corruption responsible for the continuing crises taking place in the country, considering that the problem is not related to a lack of resources, but rather to mismanagement and waste of public money.
He pointed out that the government had previously announced projects to secure drinking water, including a seawater desalination project and another whose cost exceeded 80 million dollars. However, according to him, these projects did not succeed in ending the thirst crisis facing the city.
Ould Mouloud called for opening investigations into the failure of these projects and holding those responsible accountable, calling on citizens to unite their efforts to defend their rights and confront corruption.
This escalation comes at a time when Mauritania is preparing to launch a national dialogue between the government and the opposition, after the political parties signed a document representing a road map for the dialogue, despite the continuing disagreements regarding a number of political and constitutional issues.
The issue of amending the constitution is the most prominent point of contention, as the opposition parties reject any review of the articles that determine the number of presidential terms, while parties within the ruling majority support amending them to allow President Mohamed Ould Sheikh Ghazouani to run for a third presidential term during the 2029 elections, which the opposition considers a violation of the principle of peaceful transfer of power.
Observers believe that the opposition’s movements in Nouadhibou reflect an attempt to exploit the economic and service crises to increase political pressure on the government, coinciding with a crucial stage preceding the launch of the national dialogue, which is expected to shape the Mauritanian political scene in the coming years.
Source:“My press”
