New developments have broken the monotony of Mauritania's political scene, where the element of surprise had been absent for some time. News from the corridors of power has begun to resemble successive chapters of a political novel, with events changing before the public has absorbed the ending of the previous chapter.
Investigations are shaking positions of responsibility and raising questions, while political developments intertwine what is officially announced with what remains behind the scenes. Events and interpretations have crowded together in Nouakchott over the past 48 hours. Hours after publication of the inquiry into the fires at two electricity facilities, which have preoccupied Mauritanians since August, Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Diay's government resigned, or was "dismissed". Less than four hours later, the public was surprised by the renewal of confidence in Ould Diay, amid differing explanations of the reasons for the move and the dismissal in the first place.
The inquiry's findings and the start of the crisis
Since the fires and the appointment of former economy minister Ousmane Kane to chair an independent inquiry involving Mauritanian figures and international experts, the gap between President Ghazouani and his government appeared to widen gradually. Over the past two weeks, cabinet meetings became brief encounters at which a limited number of draft laws were quickly reviewed and passed, taking no more than 30 minutes of the president's time, unlike ordinary meetings that lasted four hours or more.
Some interpreted this change as a shift in the president's mood in response to successive crises. It was followed by the resignation of Ould Diay's government a day after President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani received the independent inquiry's report into the August fires at two major electricity facilities in Nouakchott belonging to the Mauritanian electricity company, SOMELEC. The fires cut power to most districts and plunged the city into darkness.
The inquiry's findings, which Ghazouani received and ordered to be published, identified shortcomings in the preparation, implementation and supervision of a project to install three electricity connections.
The report recorded technical and administrative failures, notably changes to cable specifications by the company responsible for maintaining the two facilities without completing the necessary technical tests. It also identified weak supervision of the works and the commissioning of the connections despite technical reservations.
The inquiry also found shortcomings in the award of the cable-replacement contract. It said the winning company was not qualified to carry it out and that the four-month deadline was unrealistic, given technical estimates of between ten months and a year.
The inquiry recommended terminating the contractor's agreement, conducting a comprehensive safety assessment of SOMELEC's facilities and determining responsibility for the shortcomings. It also called for stronger coordination with civil protection services to ensure a rapid response to similar incidents.
The overseas bloggers case: continuing controversy
Alongside the SOMELEC fires, the case involving overseas bloggers, described by former government spokesperson Houssein Ould Meddou as a campaign to dismantle a financial-extortion network, was another source of controversy in the days before the government's resignation.
Although the government spoke of the arrest of around 20 people in its recent media appearances, the case remained at an early stage of investigation, and none of those detained had yet been released.
According to observers, the case could also have had repercussions that contributed in some way to Ghazouani's decision to dismiss the government, particularly amid discussion of officials' alleged involvement.
Renewed confidence despite accepting responsibility for shortcomings
In remarks that initially sounded like a farewell, Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Diay said after submitting his government's resignation that he alone bore responsibility for any shortcomings in its work.
He expressed deep thanks to President Ghazouani for the confidence placed in him since he was assigned to coordinate government work in August 2024, and for the guidance, support and attention he had received throughout his premiership.
Although the public, or at least much of it, read his words as an implicit admission of shortcomings and acceptance of responsibility that might prevent his reappointment, Ghazouani surprised everyone by renewing his confidence in the prime minister only hours later. In his first statement after being asked to lead the next stage, Ould Diay pledged to begin forming a government immediately. He welcomed the president's confidence and said the new team needed the political and technical competence to continue implementing Ghazouani's "My Ambition for the Nation" programme.
He added that the new government must be able to confront the challenges of the current global crisis, particularly by strengthening the safety net that would allow lower-income citizens to cope with its effects.
A misreading of the moment?
Abdallah Sidiya, a Mauritanian journalist living abroad who follows political affairs, believes the president misread the moment. In his view, there is "widespread discontent with this government's work and the populism of its leader, who squandered tens of billions of Mauritanians' money on a project we all know has failed and has been marked by administrative and financial corruption: the Nouakchott modernisation project".
Sidiya added: "Ould Diay designed Nouakchott's emergency development programme, under which an opaque and corrupt contract was awarded to an MP related to the president who owns a shell company. The inquiry into the fires found that it had falsified experience certificates and bought substandard cables in a contract that cost Mauritanians 1.5 billion ouguiyas and led to catastrophic fires and unprecedented power cuts."
He said that when the government resigned at the president's request, "we expected the Ould Diay chapter to be closed completely. The president surprised everyone by appointing him again, as though telling all Mauritanians that, despite the corruption, authoritarianism, contracts and fires, despite everything, this man is staying whether you like it or not".
Sidiya continued: "These are not reform measures by a president who promised to fight corruption and has not done so through three-quarters of his two terms. Nor is this an encouraging gesture from a president who promised a great deal and delivered little."
Reordering priorities
Taking a different view, journalist Mohamed Ould Omar told Madar that the government's resignation and the renewal of confidence in Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Diay carried more than one meaning and might be part of a reordering of government priorities and an assessment of past performance.
Ould Omar stressed that it was still "too early to be certain about the reasons for the decision or to link it to the inquiry into the electricity-facility fires".
He added: "On the SOMELEC fires, it is natural for the public to question their relationship to the government's resignation. But if we assumed that this was indeed the reason, dismissing the directly responsible minister whose name appeared in the report would have been sufficient."
An attempt to numb public opinion?
Hassan El Mahdi, a Mauritanian journalist based in Turkey, believes some may see the government's resignation at this moment as a sign of an intention to improve its work. In his view, however, it amounts to no more than "an attempt to numb public opinion, particularly amid the current crises".
Speaking to Madar, El Mahdi compared the move to changing the worshipper who follows the imam in the hope of putting the imam right. He added: "No 'sensible person' in Mauritania expects the next government to be better than its predecessors, because the problem lies with an entire system. Thirty minutes is more than enough to recycle the same clique."
On the electricity company, El Mahdi argued that "despite the seriousness of the case and its impact on public services, the report fell short of expectations. It did not recommend measures to hold those involved accountable or put them on trial, apart from one point concerning falsified documents. That makes it unlikely to reach the courts unless the authorities intend to settle scores with particular individuals."
Mauritanians are awaiting the announcement in the coming hours of the new government that Ghazouani has again asked Prime Minister Mokhtar Ould Diay to form. Some hope it will honour promises to include young people, halfway through the "youth term", while others believe the recycling of officials will remain the common feature of Ghazouani's successive governments.
