[20200303]IF11444_毛里塔尼亚.pdf

https:/crsreports.congress.gov March 3, 2020MauritaniaPolitical instability, military rule, and Islamist terrorist threats have been recurrent challenges in Mauritania. Yet the country recently underwent its first electoral transfer of power after a president completed two elected terms in office, and it is the only country in the Sahel region not to have experienced a deadly terrorist attack since 2011. U.S. engagement has expanded since the early 2000s, as regional security threats have grown, and as U.S. officials have come to see Mauritania as an able counterterrorism partner. U.S. firms also have interests in Mauritanias growing offshore natural gas production. Human rights concernsparticularly regarding the enduring practice of hereditary slaveryand military coups in 2005 and 2008 have nonetheless constrained bilateral ties. Mauritanias recent positive security trendsremarkable given the enduring crises in neighboring Mali and in Burkina Faso and Nigermay be attributable to improvements in its counterterrorism capacity, de-radicalization programs, and/or a rumored non-aggression pact with regional Al Qaeda-aligned networks (see below). Mauritania may nevertheless remain vuln