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Nouakchott: Mauritanian Prime Minister Yahya Ahmad Al Waghef's government resigned yesterday after barely two months in office, following a political revolt against it by rebel deputies of the ruling party.
Nearly 40 dissident members and allies of the ruling National Pact for Development and Democracy (PNDD-ADIL) had on Monday scheduled a no-confidence vote in parliament against the government, saying it did not reflect the electorate's will.
This censure motion was to have been voted on by the Mauritanian national assembly in the coming days.
It had presented President Sidi Mohammad Ould Shaikh Abdullahi with his first major political crisis since he took office last year after winning elections marking the return of civilian rule to the West Saharan Islamic state.
Mauritania, which straddles Arab and black Africa, is one of the continent's newest oil producers. Abdullahi took over from a military junta that had ruled since it toppled President Maaouya Ould Sid' Ahmad Taya in a bloodless coup in 2005.
Seeking to consolidate his political and parliamentary power base as his country faced threats from Al Qaida attacks and soaring food prices, Abdullahi appointed Al Waghef as his new prime minister in May.
New prime minister
"Prime Minister Yahya Ahmad Al Waghef ... has informed the president of the republic of the resignation of his government," the state news agency AIM reported yesterday.
Abdullahi was now expected to name a new prime minister to form a new government.
In response to the proposed no-confidence vote sponsored by the rebels from his own PNDD-ADIL party, the Mauritanian president on Wednesday threatened to dissolve parliament if the censure motion went ahead.
He called it astonishing that members of the parliamentary majority should vote against their own government, saying the Al Waghef cabinet had not even had time to present its programme.
Some of the ruling party rebels had complained that the administration named by the prime minister in May had included figures from Taya's authoritarian regime and had also brought in opposition politicians.
The ruling PNDD-ADIL has 50 seats in the 95-member parliament, while other parties which participated in Al Waghef's government have a further 17 seats.
The main RFD opposition party, which has 17 seats, had indicated it would support the no-confidence motion, which will not go ahead now.
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