Be sure to check out the latest edition of the Carnegie Endowment's Arab Reform Bulletin. This issue includes discussion of a possible re-birth for Fatah, the odds of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood running in next year's parliamentary elections, the June presidential election in Mauritania, judicial reform in Saudi Arabia, and improving education in the UAE.

On POMED's Morocco country page, James Liddell discusses a new report by the Potomac Institute and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) on why and how the U.S. should promote regional cooperation in the Maghreb region of North Africa.

Last week, Les Campbell of the National Democratic Institute visited Mauritania to meet with political leaders and civil society representatives to discuss the prospects of a June election. This election would represent the first since August's coup, which saw the ousting of the country's first democratically-elected leader. Campbell stressed that "while there are several possible options that could pave the way for a return to a democratic path in Mauritania, ...

Caroline Baxter writes in The Christian Monitor, condemning the Bush administration for failing to support and encourage Mauritania’s 2005 transition to democracy. In light of the recent coup in the country, Baxter argues that “one of the greatest tragedies of the Bush administration's Iraq-centric foreign policy is that ‘democracy’ has become a boo-word in the very countries that its policy theoretically seeks to transform.”  

Christopher Boucek of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace writes a commentary about the coup in Mauritania and the difficult choices facing U.S. foreign policymakers in reacting to the situation. The dilemma facing U.S. policy is that between standing up for democratic governance and defending against the security threats that could emanate from a weak and unstable Mauritania. Boucek says thus far the U.S. has correctly responded with criticism and ...

Kal at The Moor Next Door has an interesting analysis of Morocco's position towards Mauritania's coup, which it has taken a favorable attitude towards. Morocco's attempts to cultivate a positive relationship with the junta are an attempt, "...to cultivate a favorable disposition in the regime presently in place so that when the rest of the world does reconcile with the junta, which would ideally take place by way of ...

After the military ousted Mauritania's first democratically elected president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the European Union “warns the military junta that the country faces the serious risk of long-lasting isolation from the international scene.” Meanwhile, a senior official of the Cairo-based Arab League says that life is back to normal in Mauritania, after visiting the country for talks with its political leaders in a bid to “help resolve the crisis and preserve ...

The Arabist writes that the coup in Mauritania is especially damaging to the country's democratic hopes as it was conducted by the same people involved in the 2005 coup as well as supporters of former President Ould Taya. He also says it will be impossible to justify this coup as protecting democracy as so much "symbolic capital" was spent on legitimizing the previous coup. On a related note, Kal at ...

Andrew Mandelbaum at the Democratic Piece posts an interesting analysis on the deficiencies of Mauritania's political system that made it vulnerable to military coup. The combination of a strong President and weak opposition parties hindered the policy process and made multi-party democracy ineffective, which was a main factor in the military's intervention. Another institutional weaknesses of Mauritania's political system was the public sector's inability to provide the resources ...

Today, the Mauritanian military staged a coup and detained President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef, overthrowing the nation's first freely elected government in 20 years. The President had fallen out of favor with parliament and it seems the final straw was the firing of the country's four top military officials by the President and Prime Minister. Even though details from Mauritania are ...

Nouri at The Moor Next Door reports that two people have died and fifteen people have been hospitalized in a "massive fire-fight" in the Tavregh Zeina neighborhood of the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott yesterday. The fighting is reportedly linked to the manhunt going on in search of the escaped Islamist accused of killing four French tourists late last year, Sidi Ould Sidna. Nouri suggests that this recent event "placed the ...

Former Member of the Israeli Knesset Azmi Bishara, in Qatar for the Second Forum on Democracy and Reform in the Arab World, made some interesting comments criticizing the non-democratic regimes of the Arab world and focusing particularly on Syria following last weekend's presidential referendum. This came as a surprise because of Bishara's previous public support for the Assad regime. Bishara also praised the recent elections in Mauritania and ...

In the Weekly Standard, James Kirchick writes an article about the success of democracy in Mauritania. Kirchick notes that this success was achieved on their own terms and without much foreign intervention. Mauritania should be held as an example of successful Arab democracy and should be publicized as much as possible by the US State Department, he writes.

Don't miss this month's Arab Reform Bulletin from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, published today. The April issue includes a piece by POMED Chair David Debartolo on Jordan's controversial electoral law in advance of parliamentary elections; a debate over Egypt's Constitutional Amendments; discussions of the political crisis in Lebanon and coming elections in Syria; and an examination of the political scene in Mauritania following last month's historic presidential elections. ...

The Economist has this brief look at Mauritania's first Presidential election, completed over the weekend. While it's too early to know how newly-elected President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdellahi will change policy, the Economist expects positive results in terms of democratic and economic reform, along with a possible cooling-off of relations with Israel in an attempt toward rapprochement with other Arab countries.

A military commander takes power from a long-standing dictator through a coup, then within two years brings the country's first genuine Presidential elections, in which any member of the ruling military junta is forbidden from running. As reported in Friday's Washington Post, so seems to be the case with Mauritania's Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall.