Communication from the Commission to the Council on the opening of consultations with Mauritania under article 96 of the Cotonou agreement
Date: 2008-09-02
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: Cotonou Agreement, Mauritania, cooperation agreement, democratisation, human rights, rule of law

EN 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 2.9.2008 
COM(2008)537 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

on the opening of consultations with Mauritania 
under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement 

EN 

   EN 

 
 
 
  
 
 
COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE COUNCIL 

on the opening of consultations with Mauritania 
under Article 96 of the Cotonou Agreement 

1. Background 

Since the 1980s, the history of Mauritania1 has been marked by numerous coup attempts. This 
was  how  Colonel  Ould  Taya  seized  power  in  1984,  succeeding  President  Ould  Haidallah. 
President Taya remained in power for almost twenty years. The Taya regime saw a succession 
of contested elections but was notable, above all, for the ethnic cleansing of the administration 
in the late eighties and early nineties and other ethnically-motivated measures which caused 
thousands of Mauritanians to leave the country for Senegal and Mali. 

It was against this background that the bloodless coup of 3 August 2005 was carried out by 
members of the military very close to the former President Ould Taya, who formed a military 
council  under  the  leadership  of  Colonel  Ely  Ould  Mohamed  Vall.  This  interim  authority 
carried  through  an  exemplary  democratic  transition  with  the  support  of  the  international 
community and the European Union in particular. Following a series of democratic polls – a 
constitutional  referendum  and  parliamentary  and  presidential  elections  -  Mauritania's  first 
democratically elected President took office in March 2007. 

On  6  August  2008,  generals  from  the  Mauritanian  army,  former  members  of  the  military 
council  that  had  led  Mauritania's  democratic  transition  in  2005-2007,  carried  out  another 
bloodless coup. They arrested the elected President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and the Prime 
Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghef (who was released a few days later). On the same day 
the Presidency of the European Union and the Commission condemned the coup, calling for 
respect for democracy and the legal institutional framework that had been in place since 2007, 
and  for  the  release  and  return  to  office  of  the  President  and  Prime  Minister.  One  of  the 
generals involved in the coup, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, then proclaimed himself head of a 
"High  State  Council  of  armed  and  security  forces"  (junta)  made  up  of  11  members  of  the 
military who, he announced, would take the necessary measures to guarantee the continuity of 
the State and cooperate with the institutions, political forces and civil society to supervise the 
holding of a presidential election. The coup has been widely condemned by the international 
community,  including  the  United  States  and  the  African  Union.  The  latter,  like  the  Arab 
Maghreb  Union,  has  sent  an  envoy,  the  Peace  and  Security  Commissioner  Ambassador 
Ramtane Lamamra, to follow developments and help to promote a peaceful settlement of the 
crisis. 

This event is the culmination of a political crisis which started three months earlier but, until 
the  coup,  had  remained  within  the  constitutional  framework.  On  Tuesday  6 May  2008  the 
Mauritanian  President  replaced  Prime  Minister  Zein  Ould  Zeidane,  who  had  been  in  office 
since the transition, with Yahya Ahmed el Waghef, who was closer to the President and leader 

1 

Mauritania is not a member of either ECOWAS (which it left in 2000) or WAEMU, but it is member of 
the  Arab  League  and  the  Arab  Maghreb  Union.  It  has  been  participating  in  the  Euro-Mediterranean 
Barcelona Process as a full member since November 2007 and is also taking part in the Union for the 
Mediterranean. 

EN 

2 

   EN 

 
                                                 
of the ruling party. His government was soon criticised, principally for including elements of 
the  former  Taya  dictatorship  and  "moderate  Islamists".  Threatened  with  a  motion  of  no 
confidence  filed  by  dissident  members  of  the  presidential  party,  the  National  Pact  for 
Democracy  and  Development  (PNDD),  the  Prime  Minister  tendered  the  resignation  of  his 
government  on  3  July  2008,  six  weeks  after  it  had  been  formed.  The  Prime  Minister  was 
reinstated by the President and, on 15 July 2008, a new government was formed. It excluded 
the Islamists but did not satisfy the parliamentary majority or the military, which has always 
been suspected of fomenting revolt in the parliament. 

A  few  days  before  the  coup,  25  members  of  parliament  and  23  senators  announced  their 
resignation from the PNDD. Officially they were protesting against the head of State's alleged 
authoritarian  tendencies,  his  "wheeling  and  dealing",  and  refusal  to  open  a  special 
parliamentary session to  answer accusations of misappropriation of  funds and fraud. On  the 
morning  of  the  coup,  the  President  signed  a  decree  dismissing  the  heads  of  the  army,  the 
police and the presidential guard. The head of the presidential guard, General Mohamed Ould 
Abdel Aziz, took charge of the coup, setting up a High Council of State with himself as its 
President.  

The day after the coup, General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz gave a speech calling for national 
unity  and  undertaking  to  solve  all  the  problems  facing  the  country  and  secure  the  rule  of 
justice and equality. Surrounded by members of the High Council of State, he stated that the 
armed forces  would stand by the people to secure democracy; it was they who had brought 
democracy, and they undertook to guard it. He said that they would take care of the  proper 
management of affairs of State, reorganise the administration, strengthen the pillars of State 
and  preserve  the  rule  of  law.  The  military  leaders  and  those  in  authority  who  support  them 
have  argued  that  this  coup  was  the  only  possible  solution  to  the  institutional  stalemates  of 
recent months and the steady deterioration of the situation in Mauritania. 

2. Commission proposal 

The  Commission  considers  that  any  solution  falling  outside  the  framework  of  Mauritania's 
constitution  is  completely  unacceptable.  It  believes  that  a  solution  within  that  framework, 
although  difficult,  was  possible,  and  would  have  been  far  preferable  to  simply  halting  a 
democratic process that had been put in place with considerable political and financial support 
from the international community and the EU in particular. 

Article 9(2) of the ACP-EC Partnership Agreement signed in Cotonou on 23 June 2000 and 
revised  in  Luxembourg  on  25  June  2005  lays  down  the  essential  elements  on  which  the 
partnership  is  based.  Democratic  principles  and  the  rule  of  law  underpin  the  domestic  and 
international policies of the Parties and constitute essential elements of the Agreement. In the 
light  of  this  Article,  and  given  the  circumstances  in  which  the  military  junta  took  power  in 
Mauritania,  the  Commission  finds  that  there  has  been  a  particularly  serious  and  manifest 
violation of these essential elements and deems the situation to be a case of special urgency 
within the meaning of Article 96(2)(b) of the Agreement. It therefore considers it necessary to 
open  consultations  with  the  authorities  in  power  in  Mauritania  in  order  to  examine  possible 
solutions to the crisis which would re-establish constitutional order. These consultations will 
be conducted in accordance with Article 96 of the revised Cotonou Agreement. They will take 
account  of  the  results  of  mediation  and  consultation  conducted  by  the  European  Union  and 
other international institutions, in particular the African Union. 

Such dialogue will give the military junta in Mauritania an opportunity to state its intentions 
and its proposals for ending the crisis and allow the EU to judge whether and how it could, on 
the basis of this dialogue, support initiatives tending towards compliance with the principles 

EN 

3 

   EN 

 
set out in Article 9(2) of the revised Cotonou Agreement.  

The  Commission  therefore  proposes  that  the  Council  invite  the  Islamic  Republic  of 
Mauritania  to  hold  consultations  under  Article  96  of  the  revised  Cotonou  Agreement  in 
accordance with the attached draft letter. 

The  Commission  proposes  that,  during  the  consultation  period,  the  ongoing  cooperation 
activities  be confined  to humanitarian measures or those that  directly benefit the population 
(including  support  under  Envelope  B  of  the  9th  EDF  to  deal  with  the  effects  of  flooding), 
contract  implementation  and  payments  relating  to  contracts  already  being  implemented 
(including road and infrastructure works), subject to compliance with the specific conditions 
of  the  financing  agreements.  The  humanitarian  measures  may  also  include  assistance  to 
victims of trafficking in human beings, asylum seekers, refugees and migrants whose life or 
health  is  in  danger.  Where  the  preparation  of  new  programmes  for  the  recently  signed  10th 
EDF  entails repeated contact with  the  national authorities, project preparation activities  will 
be limited, except in the case of any humanitarian measures or measures that directly benefit 
the  population.  In  the  case  of  activities  based  on  Community  external  aid  instruments,  the 
Commission  proposes  that  they  be  treated  similarly  to  activities  under  the  Cotonou 
Agreement,  while  ensuring  compliance  with  the  instruments'  regulations  and  the  Financial 
Regulation. 

The  Commission  is  currently  verifying  whether  the  conditions  for  implementation  of  the 
Fisheries Partnership Agreement and its recently revised protocol are still met. Following this 
verification,  it  reserves  the  right  to  take  any  action  which  may  be  necessary  in  accordance 
with the Fisheries Partnership Agreement with Mauritania. 

EN 

4 

   EN 

 
ANNEX  

DRAFT 

Brussels, 

Interim Prime Minister  
of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania 
Nouakchott 
Mauritania 

Sir, 

In its statement of 6 August 2008 on the coup in Mauritania, the Presidency of the European 
Union roundly condemned this act of force. It pointed out the need for political tensions to be 
resolved within the institutional framework arising from the democratic transition and called 
for a swift return to constitutional order. 

On the same day the European Commission issued a statement condemning the coup, calling 
for  respect  for  democracy  and  the  legal  institutional  framework  that  had  been  in  place  in 
Mauritania  since  2007  and  pointing  out  the  risks  that  this  situation  posed  for  the 
implementation of Community cooperation. The statement also underlined that, when the time 
came, the situation would be assessed in the light of the applicable provisions of the Cotonou 
Agreement, to which Mauritania is a signatory. 

In application of Article 96(2)(b) of the Cotonou Agreement and in view of the serious and 
manifest violation of the essential elements referred to in Article 9 of the Agreement, we have 
the  honour,  on  behalf  of  the  Community  and  the  Member  States  of  the  European  Union,  to 
invite your country for consultations in order, as provided for in the Agreement, to study the 
situation in depth and, where appropriate, take steps to remedy it. 

We  propose  that  these  consultations  take  place  in  the  near  future,  at  a  date  to  be  agreed 
jointly, in the building of the Council of the European Union in Brussels. 

We have the honour to be, Sir, yours faithfully, 

For the Council 

For the Commission 

Copies:  President of the ACP-EU Council of Ministers 

Chairman of the ACP Committee of Ambassadors  
Secretary-General of the ACP Group 

EN 

5 

   EN