Morocco and the Mauritanian Coup
August 14th, 2008 by Adam
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 Morocco, the Mauritanians will have to pay the Kingdom back in some manner or the other.”
In other coup related news, the EU threatened Mauritania’s junta with international isolation unless it restored institutions to how they were before the coup. The EU issued a statement saying, “The EU warns the military junta that the country faces the serious risk of long-lasting isolation from the international scene.”
Posted in EU, Mauritania, Morocco, North Africa | 3 Comments »
Mauritanian Coup Update
August 12th, 2008 by Adam
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 The Moor Next Door reports that Morocco’s intelligence chief has met with general Gen. Abdel Aziz and offered Morocco’s support while suggesting that he should release members of the previous government as a sign of good will. Responding to external pressure, the coup leaders have released the Prime Minister and several other officials, but the President remains under house arrest.
Posted in Mauritania, Morocco, North Africa | Comment »
Al-Qaeda in the Maghreb
July 2nd, 2008 by Adam
GrandMasta Splash at Arabic Media Shack analyzes the recent New York Times article examining Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. Splash says the Times article exaggerates the Al-Qaeda links as their tactics, such as killing foreigners, were part of the GIA’s repertoire during its conflict with the Algerian government in the 1990s. Furthermore, according to Splash, the group’s linking with Al-Qaeda is a sign of weakness as they were nearly crushed by the Algerian government and had to align with Bin Laden as a last ditch effort to save their organization from complete marginalization.
Posted in Algeria, North Africa, Terrorism, al-Qaeda | Comment »
POMED Notes: Rethinking Democracy Promotion in Middle East at USIP
January 17th, 2008 by Nicolas
Yesterday afternoon, the U.S. Institute of Peace hosted an event entitled “Rethinking Democracy Promotion in the Middle East,” featuring Cairo-based writer and scholar Hugh Roberts, formerly of International Crisis Group, giving an analysis and critique of Western efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East, with suggestions for revamping the approach. Roberts largely criticized the current approach to promoting democracy as ineffective, counterproductive intereference in the internal affairs of Middle Eastern states.
Responses to Roberts were given by Stephen King of Georgetown and Matthew Frumin of NDI, moderated by USIP’s Dina Shehata, followed by a lively Q & A session.
Click here for POMED’s full notes on the event.
Posted in Algeria, Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Islam and Democracy, Islamist movements, North Africa, Saudi Arabia, US foreign policy | Comment »
US Efforts to Spread Democracy in Tunisia Are Met with Resistance
September 12th, 2007 by Amanda
Jill Carroll of the Christian Science Monitor reports that US-funded democracy building projects in Tunisia, like a university newspaper produced by Tunisians and a program of roundtable discussions, are “complicated by popular anger over US policy” and consequently “some governments in the region are worried US efforts to stoke democratic reforms will destabilize their regimes.”
Posted in Democracy Promotion, North Africa, Reform, Tunisia | Comment »
Secularism in North Africa
July 3rd, 2007 by Audrey
Following on Marina Ottaway’s editorial yesterday, the Daily Star today published an op-ed from Anouar Bouhkars examining secularism in North Africa, blaming secular political parties for their “organizational inefficacy and inability or unwillingness to lead meaningful tangible reforms” for their lack of success.
Posted in North Africa, Political Islam | Comment »
POMED Event - “Bringing the World Home” Conferences 2007
May 30th, 2007 by Administrator
(left) Prince Hassan bin Talal speaks with former United Nations Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali at the opening of the Amman conference. (right) Participants at the Jordan conference develop policy recommendations in small group discussions.
Event Summary
In spring 2007, the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) joined with Americans for Informed Democracy (AID) and four regional partners to convene conferences in Jordan, Egypt and Morocco, bringing together 152 young Americans and Middle Easterners to discuss America’s impact on political reform in the region. In these conferences, participants discussed the U.S. – Middle East relationship, consequences of American policies in the Middle East, and how the U.S. could better support democratization in the region. Participants also jointly developed, debated and ratified policy recommendations for the U.S. government, regional governments, the media, and civil society organizations.
The conferences provided an open forum for young Americans and Middle Easterners to directly engage each other about U.S. democracy strategy and about Middle Easterners’ hopes and ambitions for political reform in their countries. The conferences included thematic panel discussions featuring regional experts, small group discussions to formulate policy recommendations, and a general session to debate and vote on the recommendations. Conference workshops trained participants on how to hold follow-up events on their own campuses and in their own communities to discuss the policy recommendations and what they had learned.
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Posted in Democracy Promotion, Egypt, Events, Jordan, North Africa, POMED | Comment »
