Mauritania
From Missiopedia
- Back to Countries
- Back to North Africa
|
Official name: |
DEMOGRAPHY
ECONOMY |
LIFE & LIBERTY |
Contents |
[edit] Geography
- Most of Mauritania is desert. At 1,025,220 sq km (395,800 sq miles), it is almost twice as big as former colonial power France, but has little more than 800 km (500 miles) of paved roads.
[edit] Location
- Mauritania is located in north western Africa in the arid Sahel region of West Africa and is about twice the size of France. It shares borders with Algeria, Mali, Senegal, and Western Sahara. The country is mostly desert, with the exception of the fertile Senegal River valley in the south and grazing land in the north. The Atlantic Ocean coastline extends about 350 miles (592 km) miles of the country’s border. Approximately one-third of the population (or slightly fewer than one million people) lives in the capital city of Nouakchott.
[edit] Climate
- Harsh climate (sandstorms 200 days a year).
[edit] Peoples
Approximately 70% are Arab and most of the remainder are black African from the Fulani and Soninke ethnic groups.
- All Mauritanian peoples are unreached. There are often tensions between different tribal groups, which can lead to violence.
[edit] Provinces
- Capital Nouakchott, about 1 million
[edit] Life
- One of the world’s poorest countries. One third of children are malnourished. Approximately 3.2 million people live in Mauritania. Many of them are nomadic peoples, but the number of nomads has been dropping quickly. Desperate poverty plagues the lives of most Mauritanians, causing a sense of hopelessness and despair.
- Since 2002, a series of devastating natural disasters such as desert locust invasions, severe drought, and flooding have caused repeated food crises. The situation is dire. With the exception of the north bank of the Senegal River, the land is entirely desert. With its drought-prone agriculture and fishing grounds threatened by over-exploitation, Mauritania is pinning its hopes for future prosperity on the exploitation of its offshore oil and natural gas reserves, which began in 2006.
- Divorce is widespread, and women and children often suffer the most.
[edit] Economy
- Main products are fish, livestock and iron ore, although offshore oil reserves promise to revolutionize the economy.
- Mauritania became an oil producer in 2006. May the nation’s oil wealth be wisely used for the benefit of all citizens. It forecast output of 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the offshore Chinguetti field opened by Australia's Woodside and now operated by Malaysia's Petronas. Difficulties extracting the oil from the field's complex reservoir structure have resulted in Chinguetti's output falling below 15,000 bpd. Other companies, including French major Total are prospecting in other parts of the large, mostly desert, country and hopes are high.
- The IMF reported in February 2008 that more than $2 billion in donor aid pledged the previous December should help Mauritania's economy grow by more than 4.5 percent in 2008 as it emerged from a slowdown in 2007.
- The Saharan state's economic growth slowed to 0.9 percent in 2007 due to a sharp fall in output from the fledgling oil sector while the non-oil economy performed well, growing 5.7 percent.
- Corruption is endemic in all areas of society.
[edit] History
- Mauritania gained independence from France in 1960. Since independence, it has been dominated by military dictators and slavery was not officially abolished until 1980. Although a multi-party democracy was declared in 1992, there is ample evidence to suggest that all elections since the new system was adopted have been fraudulent. Yet another coup in 2005 brought another dictator to power.
[edit] Government
- Officially an Islamic Republic. The government takes great pains to keep Christianity away from the people.
- Abdallahi took office in 2007 after winning elections marking the return of civilian rule to the West Saharan Islamic state.
[edit] Religion
[edit] Islam
- Mauritania is officially an Islamic state. More than 99,8% profess to be Muslim. It is against the law for a Muslim to convert; apostasy is punishable by death.
- After one thousand years of Islam as the predominant religion of Mauritania, any hope for change seems unlikely. The government limits freedom of religion in part by prohibiting the distribution of non-Islamic religious materials and the evangelization of Muslims. Because of this, there is a great lack of scripture written in local languages and only a limited amount of Christian media available within Mauritania. Telling people about Jesus is not only illegal, but those who do accept Jesus Christ as their Saviour face severe social pressure and are often ostracized from their families. It is an ongoing challenge to gather the small handful of Christian Believers together into strong fellowships. This challenge is compounded by the increase in harassment of national believers and expatriate African churches over the past year.
- Despite the grip of Islam on the country, animism is practised by most people. The deep-rooted fear of evil spirits (known as jinn) binds many people. Many seek supernatural help through divination and occult practices.
[edit] Buddhism
[edit] Christianity
- 0,2%
[edit] History
[edit] Churches
- May the small Mauritanian Christian Underground Church will become a bright light to their nation. May theChristian leaders stay strong in their faith and be renewed daily by the power of the Holy Spirit.
[edit] Church and State Relations
[edit] Mission
- All Mauritanian peoples are unreached, in that there are no peoples with an indigenous church under indigenous leadership. There are a handful of believers worldwide, but individuals showing interest in Christianity in the past have been imprisoned or tortured. Pray for freedom of religion in Mauritania. Pray also for seekers and believers, that the Lord might minister to them despite the lack of opportunities to hear and grow in the gospel.
- Currently the distribution of non-Islamic religious materials and sharing the Gospel with Muslims are prohibited. Very few Mauritanians have heard of Jesus. No missionaries are allowed. There are a few expatriate Christians who have shared their faith, but do so at great risk. There are no Bibles in the native language of the people, and in any event the literacy rate is very low. Christian radio is limited. There are some works ministering to Mauritanians who travel outside the country.
- In this setting God is doing wonders, despite the guards that sometimes stand at church doors to ensure that Mauritanian citizens don’t enter. God has given dreams to Mauritanians even in remote areas. In the interior of the country, an Imam showed the Jesus Film in a mosque. By God’s grace, there are now Mauritanians following Christ in many countries around the world.
[edit] Councils and Networks
[edit] Future Trends
[edit] For More Reading
