Madar (Nouakchott) - A month after President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani's call on September 26 for a "comprehensive national drive for cleanliness, environmental protection and the appearance of cities", campaigns are multiplying in Nouakchott and inland towns. The latest, launched on Saturday, October 24, by the Road Transport Regulatory Authority, covers some 90 road transport stations nationwide for a week, the Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) reported.
Results in Nouakchott
The clean-up of the Nouakchott beach ended on Saturday along a 33-kilometre stretch between the Port of Friendship and the "Al Mourabitoune" conference centre, with some 2,000 participants and more than 230 tonnes of waste removed, mostly plastic, a week after it began.
In Nouakchott North, the clean-up plan has entered its third week, with Saturdays set aside for cleaning streets, main roads and junctions and clearing informally occupied public space in Dar Naim, Teyarett and Toujounine.
Inland towns
In Kaedi, the first phase of the campaign ended on October 19 with 6,860 tonnes of waste removed and 25 black spots cleared, with fines imposed on offenders. In Nouadhibou, the regional authorities launched on October 22 the second phase of a month-long campaign carried out in turn by public institutions and local partners.
The sustainability challenge
Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Djay acknowledged in mid-October that cleanliness in the capital was "not satisfactory". After the beach clean-up, the environment ministry pledged to prepare a sustainable plan to keep it clean, while local officials in several towns stressed that the end of the first phases "does not mean the end of the effort".
The authorities have not yet published a consolidated national figure for the amount of waste removed since the drive began.
