Abstract : Disregarded by the media and international community, Mauritania is nonetheless experiencing a period of increasing instability. Evidence abounds and includes failed military coups, creation of a rebel movement, Foursan Taghyir ('The Knights of Change'), discovery of weapons caches in Nouakchott, and the arrest of Islamist leaders. Although the official discourse tends to tie the issue of political stability to the question of Islamism, the reality is far more complex. President Ould Taya's regime is taking advantage of the international context (the struggle against global terrorism) to legitimize its denial of democratic rights, while giving credence to the concept that Islamists are linked to the armed rebels in order to discredit them. In so doing, it runs the risk of leading the state into an impasse by rendering it dangerously dependent on U.S. support in the face of growing domestic discontent. To count on external support to suppress an alleged local Islamist terrorist threat that, at present, barely exists is to recklessly push forward rather than pursue a well thought-out strategy. It could ultimately turn out to be a very costly mistake.

This content is published in French - L'islamisme en Afrique du Nord IV : Contestation islamiste en Mauritanie : menace ou bouc émissaire ?