Mauritania
Mauritania launches "Internet caravan"

afrol News, 10 March - This weekend, the Mauritanian government launched its "Internet caravan" to present this new technology to the country's rural zones. It was important to sensitise all the population of this important technology, a government spokesperson held. 

The Mauritanian "Internet caravan" was inaugurated by Mrs. Fatimetou Mint Mohamed Saleck, Secretary of State at the Prime Minister's office, in the town of Néma, placed in the interior south-eastern corner of the vast country. Mrs. Saleck, who also is in charge of the introduction of new technologies in government, wished the caravan a safe journey on its way through the isolated region of Hodh El Charghi. 

The caravan is to tour the Hodh El Charghi region to "familiarise the population with the Internet tool." The caravan is to offer free Internet séances to anybody interested and explain how it works. Mrs. Saleck at the inauguration in Néma underlined the great importance of sensitising the population about "the importance of Internet" and assured that this information tool had several ways of utilisation which would "contribute to our development."

Mauritania established full Internet connection in August 1997. In 1999, a three-year project was approved by the government and UNDP to introduce and improve Internet access throughout the country. The number of Internet subscribers however remains low, especially in rural areas such as the Hodh El Charghi region.

The Hodh El Charghi region has an estimated 275,000 inhabitants (2001 census), mostly devoted to dryland agriculture and livestock herding. It is placed on the southern fringe of the Sahara desert, bordering to Mali in the south and east. The region is among the poorest in Mauritania and 58 percent of farmers are registered to live below the poverty threshold. 

Sources: Based on AMI and afrol archives 

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