draught: taking a rain check on international aid

Blog update:
Apparently, blogger killed all the links in my previous post. They are up now, live, and perhaps a few days out-of-date.

Coup update:
There has been renewed action in the capital. Thursday, demonstrations for and against the coup disturbed the lazy quiet of Nouakchott. Police fired tear gas at 200-300 protesters while allowing a rally of over a thousand coup-supporters continue uninterrupted.

Former President Abdallahi's daughter is decrying her father's captivity, fearing that he has too much down time for reading (Bill Clinton's bio no less). Meanwhile, his wife Kahtou Boukhari is still trying to clear her name in the KB humanitarian NGO scandal.

The African Union has suspended Mauritania's membership for breaking several AU conventions that prohibit unconstitutional changes of government (one of which was not ratified more than a month ago).

Condaleezza Rice impotently urged Mauritania to release and reseat the deposed President. Putting money where its mouth is, the US has pulled all non-humanitarian aid, on the scale of 20 million USD, including military trainings and installations planned for my former site, the Milleneum Challenge Corporation program, anti-terrorism campaigns, and USAID programs which only recently had been reinstated in country.

Despite the international outrage, the coup's proud author General Aziz remains unmoved. He cooly blamed the ousted Abdallahi for having "toppled himself through a series of wrong steps." The General sees himself as some democratic savior and his military junta as the miracle that would lead Mauritania (for a second time, see Coup 2005) back to life, liberty and the pursuit of elected puppet officials. On Saturday, Aziz called for understanding:

"We ask our Arab brothers and our friends to understand the position and we will share our reasons with them. The problem that happened in Mauritania is an internal affair."

Internal? Hardly.

While the mood is relatively subdued, the Mauritanian people are realizing how this is about to hit them in the pocketbooks. This editorial hits the nail right on the head: Mauritania is one of the world's poorest countries and is hardly in a position to lose international support, either politically or financially. Between pulled aid, lost tourism and bad press, we have more than just droughts and food shortages to weather this summer.