On 28 November 2020, Mauritania will celebrate 60 years of independence. The anniversary of an ambitious project, so much so that it was to build in 1960 to make the young state exist. Sixty years later, a long road has been traveled, but some projects remain unfinished, such as unity and social cohesion. A file that emerged during the latest presidential campaign and for which some votes call on the head of state, Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, to take new measures.
It is the last French-speaking African country to gain independence in 1960. In Mauritania, the construction of the young state was particularly complicated. When we ask him about his memories of independence, former diplomat and former minister Taki Ould Sidi does not go four ways … He was 18 the same day. He remembers the sports equipment he had received for the parade. Of the “big day” that November 28 represented. But above all the challenges that followed immediately.
“I,” he said, “I used to say that among all the countries that gained independence at the same time, the only country that is completely poor here.” “Nouakchott was virtually non-existent,” says the diplomat, “there was no construction, there was nothing.” To accommodate the guests, it was really ingenious. The first Council of Ministers took place in a tent! ”
Moktar Ould Daddah proclaims independence
In his memories[1], Father of independence Moktar Ould Daddahhe also remembers the insecurities of the early days. “Independent,” he explains, “was proclaimed in a makeshift hangar, specially equipped and containing barely all our foreign guests and important national officials. The electrical installation, quite artisanal, was one of our obsessions. A failure of the only generator that lit the hangar would have significantly hindered the development of the ceremony of independent announcement. “
Moroccan hostility to Mauritanian independence
That evening, the generator set happily succeeded: “By proclaiming the independence of my country, Moktar Ould Daddah continues with the very lively and deep feeling that everyone could guess, I declared:” Every man’s dream of every woman in this country has come true … I this emerging capital, I urge you to recognize the symbol of the will of a people who have faith in their future. all the more important because a break in the lighting risks creating panic among the guests. Moroccan radio spoke in the days leading up to independence about the risk of an attack hanging over this ceremony.
Moroccan hostility to Mauritanian independence is well known. At that time, the authorities in Rabat defended the idea of a larger Morocco, which in addition to Western Sahara would also include Mauritania, part of the very young Mali area and a piece of the Algerian Sahara. The UN has been seized by the issue of Mauritanian independence. The Soviet Union took up the issue and used it as a lever. It was not until October 27, 1961, that the UN General Assembly accepted Mauritania into the Community of Nations. Morocco itself did not recognize Mauritania until 1969.
Recognize Mauritanian sovereignty, also picture a nation. In 1957, Ould Daddah launched a slogan from Atar: “Let’s make the Mauritanian homeland together”. Independence is a new step in this project. “For most Mauritanians, especially traditional ones,” says diplomat Ahmedou Ould Abdallah, “November 28 was a time when they could say they were Mauritanians. They knew what they were, but as a nation it feels like it was new. ”
According to researcher Jean-Louis Balans, “Mauritanian Unity, National Construction, has been Moktar Ould Daddah’s top priorities since the start of his political career. The fluctuations in its power, as well as the ambiguity of its regime, reflect the tactics successively adopted in the pursuit of this goal: to realize the state and the Mauritanian nation. ”
A nation that questions its identity
Sixty years later, some faces in the country have changed. “Things have come a long way,” says Diarra Sylla, 39, a digital entrepreneur. Educated in Morocco and Senegal, she returned to the country five years ago to found the first Mauritanian factory, Sahel Fablab, and the Innov’Rim structure, which organizes digital training workshops. Enthusiastic, the young woman has a thousand projects in mind. “My priority is to participate in the development of this country,” she explains. Everything that happens elsewhere can be done here. There are many positive initiatives from young people. I regret the bad image of the country. “
Diarra Sylla also expresses her hope for the country: “Mauritania needs all societies to move forward. There are many possibilities, it must be said to the diaspora that has been discouraged. We must leave the past, the hate speech, that prevents us from moving forward. It changes a lot for women. The new generation is very ambitious and very aggressive. We have a big country, I tell myself that anything is possible “.
There are still many websites. Political, economic, social projects … Nouakchott, for example, must constantly invent himself. During the years leading up to independence, the city was hastily built, on the sand, in a relatively inhospitable place near the sea. In 1960 it was just a small village of only a few hundred, maybe a few thousand souls. The capital now has 1.2 million inhabitants. The infrastructure is struggling to keep pace. “Only 3% of the population is connected to the sanitation network,” said Saleck Moulaye Ahmed Chérif, director of studies, projects and cooperation in the Nouakchott region. In addition, there is the problem of waste management, a problem of urban poverty … ”
Languages being discussed
The election campaign for the presidential election in June 2019 showed how the issues of unity and national cohesion continue to concern the public and the political class. The debate about the languages used in the country has still not been decided: which respective places for Arabic, the official language, French, the language of the former colonizer and the national languages, Poular, Soninke and Wolof?
For Idoumou Ould Mohamed Lemine, professor at the University of Nouakchott, it is time to put an end to the “language war”, which began in 1966 with the introduction of the law on the Arabization of education: “Arabization should have gone gradually so as not to upset certain balances, situations … Mauritania is also a multiethnic, multicultural, multilingual country … and therefore this linguistic arrangement has crystallized the divisions around the country’s identity, is an Arab country, is it an African country … ”
The education system, the researcher explains, is torn apart by these linguistic issues which, according to him, have even blocked any debate on the development of the Mauritanian school. “I think,” he says, “that it is time for Mauritania to try to overcome tensions over this language issue and that they agree to adopt an Arabic-French bilingualism in primary school, that is, until college, followed by a multilingualism at from high school … In this multilingualism, the national languages, Poular, Soninké, Wolof, will have their place. I hope that our authorities, who are preparing a new reform of the Mauritanian school, will take the time to resolve this issue. ”
Inal’s shattered memory
On November 28, other identity issues in Mauritania will rise to the surface in the waters of memory. Through another anniversary: the massacre of 28 black soldiers, hanged at the base of the Inal, in the Nouadhibou region, on November 28, 1990. The drama took place during a period of bloody repression against the Negro Mauritanians, between 1989 and 1991, which we call “humanitarian debts”.
►Read also: Mauritania: Death of Negro-African soldiers in 1990 goes unpunished
Houlèye Sall is installed on carpets in the yard of her house where she welcomes members of Widows Collective. The president of the collective is now 80 years old. Her son, Abdoulaye, was killed in November 1990. “My life was wasted,” she said. The state never said anything, never did anything. I feel a little old, but for 30 years I have gone on November 28 to protest. An amnesty law was adopted in 1993 for the perpetrators of crimes committed between 1989 and 1992. Unauthorized for Maïmouna Alpha Sy: her husband, a customs official, was killed in Nouadhibou on the day before Independence Day. “Independence Day should be marked by joy, laughter and we are the opposite: it is tears, it is sadness. We killed them, why? Those responsible are there. We want these people to be brought to justice. We will never give up. If it is not we, it will be our children, if it is not our children, it will be our grandchildren! “
Mamadou Lamtoro Camara was actually barely 2 years old when his father was killed in Inal. The 30-year-old talks about an obligation to remember: “I did not have the chance to meet him. Sometimes I see people my age, they do not even know what happened in Mauritania, it’s serious! All children in the country must know, so that we can build Mauritania in a good dynamic and live together. “As every year, the widow’s collective has planned its own walk this Saturday to once again demand justice. Before the march, a day of prayer was arranged this Friday.
1. OULD DADDAH Moktar, Mauritania against wind and tides, Paris, Karthala 2003
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