Aborting Muslim Brotherhood in Mauritania, opposition exposes Tawassoul schemes

Doaa Emam

On the contrary to what Mauritania’s National Rally for Reform and Development (Tawassoul) tried to promote, internationally recognized anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid has managed to achieve a breakthrough in the Mauritanian political scene. Abeid has ended what the Muslim Brotherhood has claimed about their fake popularity, especially that their candidate, Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar, came third in the June presidential election with 17.9 percent of the vote tally.

Abeid made his name through his struggle against slavery and its aftermath in Mauritania since 2007, before entering the political arena through the latest presidential election and leading the scene as leader of the opposition, toppling the Brotherhood that has been exhausted by recent conflicts and splits.

After his political success, the Brotherhood tried to benefit from its popularity. Abeid revealed in remarks to a local Mauritanian channel that the Brotherhood’s attempted to take advantage of his human rights struggle in order to get support for their sabotage activities during the Arab spring revolutions.

He pointed to an attempt by senior Muslim Brotherhood member Ahmed Ould al-Wadia, who was arrested a few days ago for rioting, Ahmed Ould al-Wadia, to arrange a meeting between him and the spiritual leader of the organization in Mauritania Muhammad al-Hassan Ould al-Dedew in order to obtain fatwas allowing civil disobedience.

Moreover, due to the loss endured by the brotherhood’s candidate, Boubacar, many members and leaders within the party decided to dissent and join Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, a former general and defense minister who won the Mauritanian presidency.

The Muslim Brotherhood party, before the last presidential elections, had pledged to unify the opposition in order to ensure that votes would not be fragmented in the hope of the success of Boubacar. The leaders of Tawassoul resorted to dialogue with the opposition after sensing the danger of excluding the group, therefore, it decided to make alliances with other popular parties. However, attempts to choose a single candidate to represent opposition in Mauritania were unsuccessful.

In this regard, Peter Ian, a Sudanese researcher specializing in African affairs, said this recession by Tawassoul means that the Muslim Brotherhood has no popularity among the people of Mauritania, which means they can be cornered and pressured in the future.

He further told The Reference in an interview that engaging into the Mauritanian opposition requires some concessions, including changes and reforms to political affiliations and separation from the Muslim Brotherhood, which will not be relinquished by Tawassoul.