From the Mauritanian Organization for Peace and Justice, April 24:

Members of the Mauritanian community and the undersigned organizations hereby call on the United Nations Security Council and the Obama administration to name an independent international commission to investigate atrocities committed during the regime of Maouya Ould Taya (1986-1992).

Using a 1989 border skirmish with neighboring Senegal as a pretext, government forces acting under the command of defendant Taya used torture, murder and large-scale deportations to establish Arab domination of the land, military and government. By 1991, thousands of Black Africans were murdered and more than 120,000 were deported. We oppose the government's current attempt to solve this issue through compensation without justice.

Presidential polls are scheduled for June 6 by the ruling military junta which came into power after the August 6 coup against democratically-elected President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

The current Mauritanian regime has refused to address the issue of justice for the victims of the atrocities committed under the regime of Ould Taya.

An independent international commission must be named to investigate crimes committed in Mauritania under Taya's dictatorship. We want peace and restitution through justice. We urge the UN and the Obama administration to support the citizens of Mauritania as they work to exercise their rights to freedom, free elections, justice and democracy. We are calling for the return to democracy in Mauritania.

Mauritanian Peace & Justice Initiative
Movement of Mauritanian Widows in Europe and America
Refugee Defense Alliance
Organization for Democracy and Justice in West Africa
The Committee for the Defense of Human Rights in Mauritania
American Anti Slavery Group
Mauritanian Organization for Peace and Justice

See our last post on Mauritania.