National Trade Data Bank ITEM ID : ST BNOTES MAURITAN DATE : Oct 28, 1994 AGENCY : U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE PROGRAM : BACKGROUND NOTES TITLE : Background Notes - MAURITANIA Source key : ST Program key : ST BNOTES Update sched. : Occasionally Data type : TEXT End year : 1992 Date of record : 19941018 Keywords 3 : Keywords 3 : | MAURITANIA BACKGROUND NOTES: MAURITANIA PUBLISHED BY THE BUREAU OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS US DEPARTMENT OF STATE JULY 1992 Official Name: Islamic Republic of Mauritania PROFILE Geography Area: 1,085,760 sq. km. (419,212 sq. mi.); slightly larger than Texas and New Mexico combined. Cities: Capital--Nouakchott (pop. 550,000). Other cities--Nouadhibou (70,000), Kaedi (74,000), Zouerate (27,000), Kiffa (65,000), Rosso (50,000). Terrain: Northern four-fifths barren desert; southern 20% mainly Sahelian with small scale irrigated and rain-fed agriculture in the Senegal River basin. Climate: Predominantly hot and dry. People Nationality: Noun and adjective--Mauritanian(s). Population (1990 est.): 2 million. Annual growth rate: 2.9%. Ethnic groups: Arab-Berber, Arab-Berber-Negroid, Negroid. Religion: Islam. Languages: Arabic (official), Hassaniya Arabic, French, Pular, Wolof, and Soninke. Education: Years compulsory--none. Attendance--Primary age children enrolled in school. Student population enrolled in primary school 79%; secondary school 18%; university 3%. Adult literacy rate--17%. Health: Infant mortality rate--125/1,000. Life expectancy--46 yrs. Work force (1988, 483,000): Agriculture and fisheries--47%. Services and commerce--24%. Industry and transportation--14%. Government--7%. Other--8%. Government Type: Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Independence: November 28, 1960. Constitution: Promulgated 1961, abolished by decree July 10, 1978. New constitution approved by referendum July 20, 1991. Branches: Executive--president (chief of state). Judicial--a supreme court and lower courts are subject to control of executive branch; judicial decisions are rendered mainly on the basis of shari'a (Islamic law). Legislative--bicameral national assembly, elected lower house (79 members), and upper house (56 members) chosen indirectly by municipal councilors. Political parties: Officially 15. Suffrage: Universal suffrage in recent presidential (January 1992) and legislative (March 1992) elections. Central government budget (1992 est.): Revenues--$309 million. Expenditures--$307 million. Defense (1990 est.): 4.2% of GDP. National holiday: November 28. Flag: Yellow star over yellow crescent against green background. Economy GDP (1990 est.): $1 billion. Annual growth rate (1990 est.): 1.5%. Per capita income: $520. Natural resources: Iron ore, gypsum, fish. Agriculture (24% of GDP): Products--livestock, millet, maize, wheat, dates, rice. Industry (19% of GDP): Types--iron mining, fish processing. Trade (57% of GDP): Exports--$439 million. Major markets--Japan 21%; Italy 14%; France 11%; Belgium/Luxembourg 11%; US 3%. Imports--$391 million: foodstuffs, machinery, tools, cloth, consumer goods. Major suppliers--France 38%; Belgium/Luxembourg 8%; Federal Republic of Germany 8%; US 6%; Spain 6%; Algeria 5%. Official exchange rate: Floating, currently 80 Ouguiyas (UM)=US $1. Fiscal year: Calendar year. PEOPLE Eighty percent of the population are Moors--of Arab-Berber descent and speaking dialects of Hassaniya Arabic. Much social status is determined by derivations from either the region's Arab-Berber conquerors or the caucasoid-negroid peoples they enslaved. An aristocratic-servile status continues to define Maure (Moor) society as "white" and "black." White Moor aristocrats (bidan) tend to be more purely Arab; commoner whites tend to be more distinctly Berber in appearance and speech. Traditionally, the enslaved indigenous class came to be called black Moors. Even though slavery is officially proscribed, a servile status lingers among the lower rungs in the black social structure. Non-Moor, non-Arab or Berber-speaking black Africans, including the Toucouleur, Fulbe, Wolof, Bembara people comprise the remaining 20% of the population and tend to live in the south. Most of these groups also have hierarchical social structures, with a servile class at the bottom. Although taken together, black Moors and black Africans outnumber white Moors, black Moors identify in many ways with white Moors. All Mauritanians are Muslims. As a result of recent endemic drought, large numbers of former nomads and oasis dwellers have migrated to urban areas (Nouakchott, Nouadhibou, Kaedi, Rosso), swelling the population of the cities and surrounding shanty towns. HISTORY Tens of thousands of years ago, the Sahara regions were verdant and filled with game. Archeological evidence suggests that caucasoid Berber and negroid Mauritanians lived beside one another before the spread of the desert drove them southward. Migration increased in the third and fourth centuries AD, when Berber groups arrived, seeking pasture for their herds, and safety from war in the north. The use of the camel allowed Berbers to travel widely across the expanding desert. This mobility led to the development of a caravan trade system which promoted the Berbers' loose Sanhadja confederation. Gold, slaves, and ivory going north were traded for salt, copper, cloth, and other items going south to Timbuktu (in present-day Mali) and beyond. Important trading towns were established, and Islam spread along the trade routes. In the 10th century, conquests by warriors of the Sudanese Kingdom of Ghana broke up the confederation, which had become weakened by internal strife, and the Ghanaians became the dominant force in the eastern and southern regions. In the 11th century, the conquest of the western Sahara regions by the Almoravids, a Berber tribe which later spread into North Africa and Spain, destroyed the Ghanaian Kingdom and firmly established Islam throughout Mauritania. These people were defeated by Arab invaders led by the Beni Hassan in the 16th century. Descendants of the Arab warriors became the upper stratum of Moorish society, and Arabic generally displaced Berber dialects as the language of the country. Beneath the Hassan tribes, but often effectively their social equals, were the Marabout tribes, whose leading figures served as the repositories and teachers of Islamic tradition. Some of the more important Marabouts (holy men) founded religious brotherhoods whose influence extended well beyond their tribe. A few of these brotherhoods still have considerable followings as far as Senegal, Guinea, Mali, and the Maghreb (North Africa). French military penetration of Mauritania began early in the 20th century--the French proclaimed a protectorate over "the Moorish country" in 1903 and declared it a colony in 1920--but the area was not brought fully under French control until about 1934. Until independence, the French governed the country largely by relying on the authority of the tribal chiefs, some of whom, such as the Emirs of Trarza and Adrar, had considerable authority. The colony's area was increased substantially in 1945, when the Hodh region of French Sudan (now Mali) was administratively transferred to Mauritania. Certain parts of this territory were ceded back to Mali in territorial adjustments in 1964. The colonial period had enormous consequences for relations between and among Mauritania's various ethnic groups. Under French occupation, slavery was legally abolished, and the payment of tribute was reduced or eliminated. But Mauritanian society continued to accept the notion of a servile class even after independence. Although slavery was again abolished in 1980, the social status and economic situation of freed slaves has improved very little, if at all. The legacy of slavery continues to be manifest in the legal system and other institutions. For example, land and inheritance disputes between Haratins and their former masters are still common. In short, many residual social and economic problems inherited from the slavery system remain. The French occupation also led to a return of sedentary negroid people across the Senegal River into southern Mauritania, an area from which they had been expelled gradually in earlier years by the warlike Maure nomads. To this day, conflict between Moor and non-Moor ethnic groups, centering on language, land tenure, and other issues, continues to be the dominant challenge to national unity. In 1989, for example, a land dispute between Moors and black Africans along the Senegal River quickly escalated, and rioting ensued both in Nouakchott and in Dakar, the capital or Senegal. Hundreds of people were killed in both countries, and the two governments expelled tens of thousands of each other's citizens before breaking diplomatic relations. As a member of the French West African Federation, Mauritania participated in the postwar social and political progress of the French colonies. Its elected officials gained wide authority early in 1957 as a result of the Overseas Reform Act (Loi Cadre), and Mauritania entered the French Community as an autonomous but not fully sovereign state after the French constitutional referendum in September 1958. The Islamic Republic of Mauritania was proclaimed in November 1958. Shortly thereafter, the process of transferring Mauritania's administrative services from Saint-Louis, Senegal, to the new capital of Nouakchott was begun. Mauritania became independent in 1960. It withdrew from the French Community in 1966. From independence until 1978, Mauritania's first civilian president was Moktar Ould Daddah, a white Moor lawyer from the Boutilimit region. Ould Daddah achieved some international stature as one of the first generation of leaders of independent African states. He emphasized Mauritania's Arab heritage and moved the country toward a nonaligned stance in international affairs. In 1973, foreign interests (primarily French) in Mauritania's iron mining industry were nationalized, and Mauritania withdrew from the franc zone to create its own currency, the Ouguiya (non-convertible outside the country). Ould Daddah's single-party regime fell from power in July 1978 as a result of Mauritania's military setbacks in the Western Sahara conflict. The bloodless coup that ended the Ould Daddah regime ushered in a succession of military governments. Mauritania's constitution was suspended, and the National Assembly and Daddah's party were dissolved. After several "palace coups" in 1979, a military committee under Lt. Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla was established. As drought and economic problems mounted in the early 1980s, the military regime became increasingly ineffectual, repressive, and corrupt. Haidalla's policy of friendship with the Polisario guerrillas, culminating in official Mauritanian recognition of the Saharan Democratic Arab Republic in early 1984, also elicited strong opposition. On December 12, 1984, Chief of Staff Lt. Col. Maayouia Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya ousted Haidalla in a bloodless coup. Taya's first actions as President raised the hopes of many Mauritanians. He moved to a neutral position on the Western Sahara conflict, inaugurated elections for municipal councils, and normalized relations with Morocco. But ethnic tensions were becoming more pronounced; in the second half of 1986, for example, the regime dealt harshly with Toucouleur dissidents, sentencing about 35 to long prison terms. Nor did the Taya regime restrict its human rights abuses to the black community; in 1988 it imprisoned and tortured Maure supporters of the pro-Iraqi Ba'ath party. The bloody events of 1989 along the Senegal River, the subsequent breaking of relations between Mauritania and Senegal, and the mass killings and deportations of tens of thousands of black Africans symbolized an ethnic crisis that was out of control. Furthermore, black Africans objected to what they perceived as a growing "Arabization" of the country. Their fears were exacerbated by the Taya's regime close relations with Iraq prior to and during the Gulf war, and by the military's involvement in significant human rights abuses against the black community. The Moors, for their part, expressed fears that black Africans had become too radical and were about to launch a civil war against them. Faced with internal crisis and a cut-off of military and development assistance from abroad, in the spring of 1991, Taya implemented some democratic reforms, including the legalization of political parties and a free press. He announced that presidential and legislative elections would follow, culminating in a transition to civilian rule in the spring of 1992. A new constitution was adopted in a controversial referendum in July 1991. The opposition parties disputed the government's claims that 85% of the population went to the polls and that 96% of those voting favored adoption of the document. The parties also demanded that Taya step down in favor of a neutral transition government. He did not and was elected President by a wide margin in January 1992. Charging that the administration had manipulated the vote, the opposition denounced the results and boycotted legislative and senate elections. On April 18, 1992, the Mauritanian Second Republic was declared, and the ruling military committee was disbanded. The civilian regime took office, despite lack of participation by opposition parties in the parliament. That same month, diplomatic relations were formally restored with Senegal, but questions remained as to the fate of tens of thousands of Mauritanian refugees still living in camps on the Senegalese side of the river. Other outstanding issues between the two countries included the resolution of land and property claims. GOVERNMENT AND POLITICAL CONDITIONS From July 1978 to April 1992, Mauritania was governed by a military junta. The ruling group was composed of military officers holding ministerial portfolios or important positions in the defense establishment. The chairman of the committee was also chief of state. In early 1992, however, the government converted to civilian rule, and the military committee was disbanded. Nevertheless, because Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was the same person who had headed the military regime since 1984, the likelihood of pro-military bias in government policy remained great. Politics in Mauritania has always been heavily influenced by personalities. Furthermore, the degree to which an individual is able to exercise political power depends upon control over resources, perceived ability or integrity, and tribal, ethnic, family, and personal considerations. Therefore, it is likely that during the civilian transition now under way the chief of state, though very powerful, will continue to be subject to tribal and ethnic pressures. The governmental bureaucracy is composed of traditional ministries, special agencies, and parastatal companies. Civilians hold most economic and technical portfolios. The Ministry of Interior controls a system of regional governors and prefects modeled on the French system of local administration. Under this system, Mauritania is divided into 13 regions (wilayas) and one district (Nouakchott). Control is tightly centralized in Nouakchott. Whether recent elections at the local and national level will have a decentralizing effect on the bureaucracy remains to be seen. Political parties, illegal during the military period, were legalized again in 1991. By April 1992, when the civilian transition occurred, 15 political parties had been recognized. Their adherents espoused various brands of Arab nationalism, Islamic fundamentalism, and Marxism. However, because most opposition parties boycotted the legislative and senatorial elections, the parliament is dominated by one party, President Taya's PRDS (Parti Republicain et Democratique Social). The ethnic conflict that has troubled Mauritania in the late 1980s and early 1990s has spilled over into political party activity, and parties tend to reflect the country's social divisions: most of the country's black African citizens support opposition parties, and the pro-government parties are distinguished by their lack of broad-based support in the black African communities. Principal Government Officials President--Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya Prime Minister--Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation--Mohamed Abderrahmane Ould Moine Ambassador to the United Nations--Mohamed Ould Mohamed Mahmoud Ambassador to the United States--Mohamed Fall Ainina Mauritania maintains an embassy in the United States at 2129 Leroy Place NW, Washington, DC 20008 (tel. 202-232-5700). ECONOMY Mauritania has a dual economy, with little interaction between the modern and traditional production sectors. Most of Mauritania's inhabitants, either nomadic herders or settled farmers, live within a subsistence economy, supplementing their incomes occasionally as wage earners or by selling produce in local markets. Most settled agriculture is confined to the north bank of the Senegal River, where millet, sorghum, rice, and other cereals are the main crops. Dates are produced annually from the date palms cultivated in the mountainous regions of Adrar, Tagant, and Assaba and at the larger oases. Almost all produce is consumed locally. Livestock raising has traditionally generated about 24% of the GDP and involved nearly one-third of the total working population. However, since 1983, livestock has been decimated by drought. Estimates of total herds for 1990 are 1.4 million cattle, 8.5 million sheep and goats, and 950,000 camels. Mauritania's agricultural sector has also been devastated by a series of droughts that have left the country heavily dependent on food aid. Even after relatively abundant rainfall in 1989-90, Mauritania grew only 37% of its total cereal needs. The government's development plans emphasize rural sector growth, but the country will be a significant food importer for the foreseeable future. Between 1981 and 1991 the United States provided about 170,000 metric tons (MT) of food aid, in addition to bilateral and regional economic assistance. The waters off Mauritania's coast contain some of the world's richest fishing grounds. From 1983 through 1989, exports of fish products were Mauritania's leading source of foreign revenue (1990--76% of GDP). In 1990, an estimated 353,629 MT of fish with a total value of $20 million were exported. One of Mauritania's most important natural resources is the high-grade iron ore near the north-central town of Zouerate. The semiautonomous mining company, Societe Nationale Industrielle et Miniere (SNIM), exploits these deposits. This high-grade ore is the country's leading export. The iron mining industry has emerged in the late 1980s from a difficult period caused largely by problems associated with the $500 million Guelbs project, inaugurated in 1984. The project, which involved exploitation of large but low-grade deposits, ran into major technical problems. After a partial fix in 1989-91, it will operate at a lower than anticipated level. In 1991, work began on large new high-grade deposits at M'Haoudat and a small deposit in the original Kedia group of mines. Between 1989 and 1991, SNIM returned to profitability, and its outlook has improved significantly. Exports of copper concentrates from a mine located at Akjoujt began in April 1971, but declining world copper prices and technical difficulties led to the mine's takeover by the government in 1975. Three years later, the government discontinued exploitation of the mine. In the early 1980s, efforts by an Arab consortium to revive the mine failed. However, in April 1992, a joint venture with an Australian company was inaugurated in Akjoujt for reprocessing the old copper mine debris for gold. This may eventually lead to a resumption of copper mining. A series of developments in the 1970s and 1980s has brought Mauritania to the edge of financial collapse. Years of drought reduced livestock populations and domestic food production, forcing hundreds of thousands of Mauritanians to forsake traditional activities and migrate to urban areas. Participation in the Western Sahara war from 1975 to 1978 proved a costly debacle. The government borrowed heavily to finance questionable projects, accumulating one of the largest per capita external debt burdens in Africa. Declining commodity prices undermined the country's mineral industry. These external factors were compounded by inappropriate macro-economic policies that discouraged exports and agricultural production, stimulated migration to overcrowded cities, and encouraged the growth of an inefficient web of government bureaucracy and parastatal companies. The economic crisis was one of the reasons cited for the December 1984 coup. In the late 1980s, the government worked closely with World Bank and IMF advisers to pursue structural adjustment policies. Parastatals have been closed, restructured or privatized, government spending has been reined in, prices have been liberalized, and the government has reduced its role in food imports. These measures have not been sufficient to alleviate the financial crisis, however. The economic situation worsened in 1990 and early 1991, the fish catch declined due to overfishing, and Mauritania had alienated key Arab donors during the Gulf war. In early 1992, the IMF and World Bank negotiated with the government to define further measures to reform the economy. FOREIGN RELATIONS Mauritania's interests lie in a peaceful regional environment and maximum external assistance for its development. Its mixed Arab-African heritage calls for close relations with both Arab and African states and regional organizations. In order to pursue these interests, the government attempts to follow a low-profile policy, adhering to consensus positions in Arab, African, and nonaligned fora and seeking friendly relations with as many states in the African and Arab region as possible. It avoids taking sides in conflicts within these groups. Relations with the developed world are largely a function of the need for security and external financing. However, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the government was widely perceived, both within and outside the country, as having failed in these foreign policy aims. The country's bloody ethnic conflict with Senegal, combined with the Taya regime's tacit acceptance of the Iraq position in the Gulf War, signalled a new low in Mauritania's external relations, particularly with the West, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait. Furthermore, the revelation that Mauritanian security forces had engaged in widespread human rights abuses against their own citizens further tarnished the government's international reputation. The United States, for example, suspended all military assistance to Mauritania. Saudi Arabia and Kuwait, both of whom had provided large amounts of assistance in the past, withdrew all aid. The government's announcement in 1991 that it would undertake democratic reforms has somewhat improved its standing in the world community. France, which for historical and pragmatic reasons never diminished its level of assistance, is today the largest donor and provider of military assistance to Mauritania. Germany, Spain, Italy, and the European Economic Community are other important donors. From the Mauritanian point of view, internal stability depends on peaceful relations with its three immediate neighbors: Mali, the Western Sahara, and Senegal. In the early 1990s, Mauritania faced formidable challenges along all three borders. In 1991, several thousand Tuaregs and Moors fleeing an internal rebellion in Mali took refuge in southeastern Mauritania. There they settled into camps, which were subsequently brought under the authority of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. By the end of 1991, the UNHCR had registered 18,000 refugees in the camps, and the figure grew daily. Although in April 1992, the Mali Government signed a peace treaty with rebel leaders, it was not clear whether and when the refugees would be able to return to Mali. In the meantime, the Mauritanian Government is responsible for providing logistical support to the UNHCR relief operation. The continuing border dispute with Senegal moved toward resolution in early 1992, but several significant issues remained outstanding. Even though the Mauritanian Government relaxed its security posture along the Senegal border and announced that any Mauritanians on the Senegalese side could return home, only a few thousand appeared to have done so. The majority, either facing documentation problems resulting from their forced deportation or fearing reintegration problems in their old villages (which in many cases have been resettled by Moors), were awaiting the normalization of relations before deciding whether to return. In April 1992, diplomatic relations did indeed resume between Mauritania and Senegal, but complicated compensation and resettlement questions remain. Mauritania's northern border is adjacent to the Western Sahara, a territory that has been in dispute for almost 20 years. The main parties to the conflict have been Morocco; the Polisario Front, the armed faction fighting for independence from Morocco; Algeria, which has provided financing and safe haven for the Polisario throughout most of the conflict; and Mauritania. Since 1973, the Polisario has challenged first Spain's and later Morocco's claim to the territory. Under the terms of a November 1975 treaty, Mauritania and Morocco joined Spain (the former colonial power in the Western Sahara) in administering the territory. Upon Spain's withdrawal from the Western Sahara in February 1976, Mauritania and Morocco claimed and administered their respective zones. This drew Mauri-tania into Morocco's war against the Polisario. The conflict was a military and financial disaster for Mauritania and the direct cause of the overthrow of the Daddah Government in 1978. In August 1979, the Government of Mauritania signed a peace treaty with the Polisario and relinquished its land claims in the Western Sahara. As a result, Mauritania's relationship with Algeria improved, but those with Morocco became strained. Until 1984, the government maintained "strict neutrality" in the conflict. In February 1984, however, President Haidalla recognized the Saharan Arab Democratic Republic, the Polisario's political arm. President Taya, who came to power in December of that year, took a more neutral position and ended the covert assistance that Haidalla had been providing to the guerrillas. As a result, rapprochement with Morocco took place, and full diplomatic relations resumed in 1985. Today, Mauritania's main inter-est in the Western Sahara lies in a peaceful resolution of the conflict. The government's stated policy is to support the framework of the United Nations, which has proposed a plan for a referendum in which the Sahrawis, the people who live in the Western Sahara, would decide between integration with Morocco and independence. In 1991 a cease-fire went into effect; however, problems have arisen in determining who will be eligible to vote in the referendum. Whether the Western Sahara problem will be resolved in the near future is far from clear. DEFENSE When the country was involved in the war against the Polisario, Mauri-tania had about 18,000 soldiers under arms, including members of the national guard, the army, navy, and air force, as well as the gendarmerie. Following withdrawal from the conflict, these forces were somewhat reduced. As a result of a series of purges of black African officers and enlisted men in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the armed forces have been further reduced. It is estimated that up to 500 Afro-Mauritanian members of the security forces may have been tortured to death following large-scale arrests that occurred in 1990-91. The security forces are also accused of having committed widespread human rights abuses in Afro-Mauritanian communities along the Senegal River. Troops are posted primarily in the north--the Nouadhibou region--and in the south in the Senegal River region along the Senegalese border. A fairly large troop contingent is also in Nouakchott, where the military headquarters is located. Although Mauritania's troops are thought capable of only limited defense of the country, they appear adequate to quell civilian unrest. The latest massive deployment of the armed forces occurred in January 1992, during the presidential election period. US-MAURITANIAN RELATIONS Before June 7, 1967, the United States maintained cordial relations with Mauritania and provided a small amount of economic assistance. However, Mauritania broke diplomatic and consular relations with the United States during the June 1967 Middle East war. Relations were restored 2 years later, and ties were relatively friendly until the late 1980s, despite disagreement over the Arab-Israeli issue. Between 1983 and 1991, when the USAID mission in Mauritania ceased operations, the United States provided $67.3 million in development assistance. During the recent drought emergency, the United States was the major provider of emergency food assistance through both bilateral and multilateral channels. Since 1981, the United States has provided a total of approximately $100 million in economic and food assistance. The 1989 rupture between Mauritania and Senegal that resulted in the deportation and deaths of tens of thousands of Mauritanian citizens had a negative impact on US-Mauritania relations. This was exacerbated by Mauritania's perceived support of Iraq prior to and during the Gulf war of 1991. Relations between the US and Mauritania reached a low in the spring of 1991, as details of the Mauritanian military's role in widespread human rights abuses came to light. The United States responded by formally suspending all military assistance to Mauritania. Since late 1991, the Government of Mauritania has expressed a desire to restore good relations with the United States. It has sought to implement democratic reforms such as the legalization of political parties and a free press and the holding of elections. However, all US military and development assistance to Mauritania remains on hold pending a judicial resolution of the human rights situation. Principal US Officials Ambassador--Gordon S. Brown Deputy Chief of Mission--David C. Bennett Political/Military Officer--Angela R. Dickey Economic/Consular/Commercial Officer--Andrew Snow USAID Liaison Officer--David C. Bennett Peace Corps Director--Mary Pecaut The address of the US embassy in Mauritania is BP 222, Nouakchott, Islamic Republic of Mauritania. Tel. (222)(2) 526-60/526-63; Telex AMEMB 5558-MTN, Fax (222)(2) 515-92. Workweek: Sunday-Thursday. TRAVEL NOTES Climate and clothing: Conservative summer apparel is worn all year. Bring a light coat or sweater for chilly winter evenings. Customs: An entry visa is required of all US citizens. Health requirements change; check latest information. Health: The government-run hospital is staffed by French-speaking doctors. There are also a few clinics owned and operated by foreign physicians. Health care in the rest of the country is very restricted, although hospitals exist in several cities and dispensaries are found in smaller towns. Within Nouakchott, sanitary conditions are generally fair, but instances of cholera, hepatitis, meningitis, and other diseases have been reported; malaria suppressants are strongly recommended. Communications: Radio and telephone service links Nouakchott to most regional capitals. Radio, telephone and wireless communication with almost every country of the world is available. Nouakchott is 5 time zones ahead of eastern standard time. Published by the United States Department of State -- Bureau of Public Affairs -- Office of Public Communication -- Washington, DC July 1992 -- Editor: Amy Cohen Department of State Publication 8169 Background Notes Series -- This material is in the public domain and may be reprinted without permission; citation of this source is appreciated. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, US Government Printing Office, Washington, DC 20402.