A Mauritanian MP and opponent " demanded ", this Monday, July 13, " the rapid establishment " of a High Court of Justice for former leaders, after former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz ignored the convening of 'a parliamentary committee. The High Court " is a body provided for in the constitution, " said Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid, also a human rights defender, at a press conference in Nouakchott. He deplored the “ procrastination ” of the deputies to put it in place.
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A law relating to this jurisdiction, for former presidents and former ministers, was to be discussed Thursday by deputies before its examination is postponed. Opponents have accused the government of causing the removal. This postponement " is due to purely technical reasons ," the commission chairman in charge of the text, Jiddou Nagi Menaba, told the press on Saturday.
A text ready at the end of July
The text " will be ready before the end of July but the composition of the (High) Court must await the session next October ," said AFP a source familiar with the matter. " The current process does not target the former president in any way " Aziz (2008-2019), said the same source. Aziz ignored Thursday the convening of a parliamentary committee to explain issues during his tenure.
Among these files, are the management of oil revenues, the sale of state property in Nouakchott, the liquidation of a public company which supplied the country with food, or the activities of a Chinese company of fishing, Pully Hong Dong. “ This (parliamentary) commission of inquiry has no use for the country. It will not give back to the people their looted money , "said Ould Abeid. " It simply falls within the framework of the tensions between the former and the current president Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, " he added.
The former president, a former general, arrived at the head of Mauritania by a putsch in 2008, before being elected and reelected in 2009 and 2014. Mr. Ghazouani, who succeeded him in August 2019, was his former Chief of Staff and Minister of Defense, also designated as dolphin by Mr. Aziz.