Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
NA
Military - note:
defense is the responsibility of the US
Transnational Issues Marshall Islands
Disputes - international: claims US territory of Wake Island
This page was last updated on 8 February, 2007
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@Mauritania
Introduction Mauritania
Background:
Independent from France in 1960, Mauritania annexed the southern
third of the former Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara) in 1976, but
relinquished it after three years of raids by the Polisario
guerrilla front seeking independence for the territory. Maaouya Ould
Sid Ahmed TAYA seized power in a coup in 1984. Opposition parties
were legalized and a new constitution approved in 1991. Two
multiparty presidential elections since then were widely seen as
flawed, but October 2001 legislative and municipal elections were
generally free and open. A bloodless coup in August 2005 deposed
President TAYA and ushered in a military council headed by Col. Ely
Ould Mohamed VALL, which declared it would remain in power for up to
two years while it created conditions for genuine democratic
institutions and organized elections. Accordingly, parliamentary
elections were held in December of 2006 and senatorial and
presidential elections will follow (January and March 2007
respectively). The newly-elected legislature is expected to assume
power following the inauguration of the new president. For now,
however, Mauritania remains an autocratic state, and the country
continues to experience ethnic tensions among its black population
and different Moor (Arab-Berber) communities.
Geography Mauritania