Mauritania: the new president of the National Assembly is controversial

Mohamed Ould Meguett, a member of the presidential party Insaf, was elected on Monday (June 19th), with 137 votes to 27. This former soldier was director of national security, then in 2020, chief of general staff of the armed forces. The opposition and Negro-Mauritanian activists accuse this relative of Mohamed Ould Ghazouani of having participated in the massacre of black Mauritanian soldiers in the army between 1988 and 1991, particularly in Inal in the west of the country.

The seat of the Mauritanian Parliament in Nouakchott, March 12, 2023. AFP - MARCO LONGARI

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In his first speech to the National Assembly, Mohamed Ould Meguett praised the role of parliamentarians in strengthening social cohesion. "I cannot help but invoke this heavy responsibility in the conscience of all of us today," he insists.

Remarks that are difficult to accept by the opposition MP and black Mauritanian activist, Biram Dah Abeid. "His election is a reminder of the trauma of Mauritanian communities of African descent," he said. It is a hard-line option that goes in the direction of provocation."

Mohamed Ould Meguett's entourage believes that he has nothing to do with the events of the late 1980s for which an amnesty was decreed. Mohamed Ould Meguett was then in the transmissions. In his book, L'enfer d'Inal, Sy Mamadou, a survivor of the events, claims that he is head of transmissions. "He knew everything," insists a former black Mauritanian officer at the time.

The election of Mohamed Ould Meguett to the National Assembly comes a fortnight after the country's major cities were rocked by violent riots following the death of a young black Mauritanian, following his arrest by police in Nouakchott.

>> READ ALSO: Mauritania: the other November 28 of the victims of the "humanitarian passive"

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• Mauritania
• Mohamed Ould Ghazouani