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, 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 late 2006-early 2007 and presidential elections in March 2007. The newly-elected legislature is expected to assume power following the inauguration of the new president in April 2007. The country continues to experience ethnic tensions among its black population and different Moor (Arab-Berber) communities.

MAURITANIAN HEALTH STATS:    Top Stats     All Stats
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Access to sanitation	70%		[81st of 129]
Drug access	50%		[118th of 163]
Infant mortality rate	72.35		[32nd of 179]
Maternal mortality	550 per 100,000		[17th of 136]
Probability of not reaching 40	33.1%		[32nd of 111]
Spending > Per person	19		[105th of 133]
Spending > Public	1.4%
Tobacco > Cigarette consumption	317		[85th of 106]
Tuberculosis cases > Per 100,000	209		[21st of 165]
Women circumcised	0.3		[28th of 27