(Nouakchott) Three people died in southern Mauritania after being arrested following riots, the government said on Tuesday, amid protests following the announced victory of outgoing President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani in the presidential election.
The town of Kaédi, in the Senegal River Valley, was shaken on the night of Monday to Tuesday by acts of looting and vandalism which led the security forces to confront the “rioters” and arrest a certain number of them, the Interior Ministry said in a statement.
Two of the “rioters” died in custody, the third later in hospital, he said.
The ministry did not provide any further details on the circumstances of the deaths, saying only that the “rioters” had been detained due to the circumstances of the time, at a late hour and with a large number of protesters.
Two security forces were seriously injured, one of whom was admitted to intensive care, the ministry said. It promised a “transparent and thorough investigation” to establish the causes of the deaths.
Call for dialogue
The statement did not mention any political nature to the unrest. But it came in a context of protests following the announcement on Monday of provisional final results giving Mr Ghazouani a large victory in the first round of Saturday’s presidential election.
Candidate Biram Dah Abeid, who came second in the election, offered his condolences to the victims. Since the results of the presidential election, he has been crying foul, claiming that the electoral commission is in the pay of the government.
“We still reject this electoral farce,” he told the press on Tuesday evening, calling on Mauritanians to “remain standing” and “demonstrate peacefully.”
“They can only resolve the crisis through dialogue between us and them. We are ready. We are extending our hand to them,” he said.
Dozens of people were arrested following unrest Monday night in the capital and in Nouadhibou (north), a source close to the police told AFP on Tuesday. Among them are “many foreigners”, she said without giving further details.
Space of stability
Calm reigned in Nouakchott on Tuesday, where shops opened and the population went about their business.
But mobile internet has been cut off since Monday night in the capital.
The authorities have not provided any explanation for the interruption.
Internet access restrictions have become common around the world as governments face protests.
The aftermath of the 2019 election, which also saw Mr Ghazouani win in the first round, was marked by clashes, the arrest of opponents and nationals of neighbouring countries accused of having participated in demonstrations, as well as an internet blackout for around ten days.
The National Electoral Commission declared Ghazouani the winner of the election on Monday with 56.12% of the vote. These results still need to be validated by the Constitutional Council.
If confirmed, Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, a 67-year-old career soldier first elected in 2019, will lead this vast desert country at the crossroads between North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa for five more years, an area of stability in a Sahel troubled by jihadism and coups d’état, and a future gas producer.
This country of 4.9 million people has not experienced a jihadist attack on its soil since 2011, while they abound in neighboring Mali and elsewhere in the Sahel.
No major incidents were reported during the presidential election.
Mauritania experienced a succession of coups from 1978 to 2008, before the 2019 election marked the first transition between two elected presidents.