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afrol News, 23 May - Eight Mauritanian opposition parties signed a joint communiqué outcrying the worsening political climate in the country. Since October 2000, political tension has increased in Mauritania. Opposition parties have been banned and one former presidential candidate is accused of "criminal conspiracy" in a Nouakchott court. The eight opposition parties, in a letter addressed on Tuesday to visiting Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade, decried Mauritania's lack of civil liberties and called upon Wade to press for more freedom, including on the political plane, AFP reported on Tuesday. The parties cited human rights abuses, press censorship, the banning of political parties and the unlawful arrests of opposition leaders as some of the violations of the regime. Since October last year, Mauritania has been plagued by political instability, including the arrest of several opposition members and leaders and the dissolution of the Union des forces démocratiques/Ere nouvelle (UFD/EN), Union of Democratic Forces-New Era, a coalition of opposition parties on 28 October 2000. The tension had started as a result of the renewed fighting in Israel and the Occupied Territories. Several opposition demonstrations in support of the Palestinians were forbidden and violently suppressed. Peaceful opponents have been arbitrarily arrested, according to Amnesty International. Tension was exacerbated by the government's decision to dissolve the coalition of opposition parties. Tension continued in November 2000, when several peaceful demonstrations were attacked by armed security forces. On 1 November 2000, scores of opponents were arrested by the police and briefly detained in the capital. Mohamed Ould Moloud, a leading member of the UFD/EN , was arbitrarily arrested with two other opposition supporters, Cheikh Ould Sidaty and Mohamed Ould Rabah. The three were hit with batons at the time of the arrest. The Mauritanian government mostly managed to oppress oppositional movements the following months, embarking on a policy of intimidation and silencing. Press freedom and the freedom of association have been curtailed. New protests emerged after the detention of the leader of the Front populaire Mauritanien (FPM), Mohamed Lemine Ould Cheikh Melaïnine on 8 April this year. He was on suspicion of "being involved with alleged terrorist groups," according to Mauritania's Director of State Security The FPM has protested against the "arbitrary and unjustified" arrest of its leader, who was a minister in the government of President Maaouya Ould Taya in 1993-1996 and ran against him in presidential elections of 1997. Cheikh Melaïnine is currently on trial on charges of "criminal conspiracy" to commit acts of terrorism and sabotage in collusion with Libya. Lawyers representing Cheikh Melaïnine decided only on Tuesday to withdraw from the case in protest against what they said was the lack of respect for the law and legal ethics, news organisations reported. They said in a communiqué that their decision had been taken in agreement with Melaïnine two others accused along with the FPM. The three men were recently transferred from Nouakchott to Aioun, about 800 km southeast of the capital, after the Supreme Court granted a request to that effect made by the prosecution. The lawyers said the court's decision, taken in the absence of the defendants and their lawyers, violated the country's penal code. The case has been adjourned to 27 May. According to a report by Amnesty International, "Human rights organizations, the media and opposition parties continue to operate with great difficulty in Mauritania. Press freedom is severely curtailed and human rights organizations are forced to operate without government authorization, leaving human rights defenders liable to prosecution and imprisonment under Mauritanian law for 'administer[ing] associations which are functioning without authorization'." Amnesty International has urged the Mauritanian authorities to end the use of arbitrary arrests and ill-treatment to suppress political opposition and to order an independent and impartial investigation into the killing of demonstrators by security forces and allegations of beatings of opponents.
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