Mauritanians have voted in a referendum to abolish their Senate, in a victory for President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Opposition groups say Aziz is laying the groundwork for a third term in power.
Image: picture alliance/AA/M.Hamed Cheine El Bekaye
Aziz - an ally of the West in the fight against Islamists in the Sahara - last week described the senate as "useless and too costly." He said abolishing the governing body would improve governance by introducing "more local" forms of lawmaking via elected regional councils.
Turnout was 36 percent in the capital, Nouakchott, but was higher in the west African nation's rural areas, reaching 80 percent in some places, according to the commission.
In other changes passed in the vote, the Mauritanian flag will now feature red bands added to the current green flag with yellow Islamic crescent and star.
The proposal to modify the constitution - which has been in force since 1991 - was rejected by the Senate in March, prompting Aziz to call the referendum.
Polling stations closed at 7 pm (1900 UTC) on Saturday after peaceful voting, after violent clashes in the final week of campaign.
Aziz said the changes would bring Mauritania "peace, security, stability and development" and said the boycott movement existed "only on paper and social media."
Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz at a rally ahead of the referendum, in NouakchottImage: Getty Images/AFP
Opposition denounce vote
The opposition - coordinated by the Forum for Unity and Democracy (FNDU) - said it would not recognize the results of the referendum, denouncing it in a statement on Sunday as an "electoral farce which has given way to open-air fraud," adding that people "had clearly rejected the constitutional amendments."
It had previously claimed the government would rig the vote and called for a boycott and mass protests during campaigning, alongside religious conservatives and anti-slavery activists.
Many believe Aziz is angling to remove obstacles to his retention of power after his tenure expires. Aziz - who came to power in a coup in 2008 and was elected in 2009 and again in 2014 for a second five-year term - said on Saturday that "in two years, or even 10 years other amendments could arise to adapt our constitution to reality," without explaining.
In Mauritania, slavery's last bastion
In Mauritania, northwestern Africa, slavery is a fact of modern life. It's estimated that 10-20 percent of the country's 3.5 million people are still enslaved in a system rooted in ethnic discrimination.
Image: Robert Asher
Born into bondage
Schweda was born a slave in Mauritania's north-eastern Sahara along with her brother, Matallah. Overcoming virtually insurmountable odds, Matallah succeeded in freeing her and her nine children from slavery in March 2013.
Image: Safa Faki
Gritty capital
Twenty-five years of drought have transformed Mauritania from a nomadic to an urban society. The transition has not been easy, and with an unemployment rate of 40 percent, many Mauritanians survive on less than one dollar a day.
Image: Robert Asher
Making do
Shantytowns have sprung up on the outskirts of Nouakchott, where many former slaves, and those who left the drought-ridden countryside in search of opportunity, build homes from scrap metal and other found items.
Image: Robert Asher
Nationwide repression
Slavery in Mauritania is not unique to the countryside. Mbarka was born into slavery and lived her life serving a wealthy family in Nouakchott. She was freed in 2011 with the assistance of well-known anti-slavery activist Biram Abeid and IRA, the abolitionist organization he leads.
Image: Robert Asher
Bringing freedom
Messaoud Boubacar (left) of the anti-slavery NGO SOS Esclaves was instrumental in the freeing of Matallah (right) and the subsequent liberation of his sister and her nine children. Both are members of a 'slave caste,' known as the Hratine, and are descended from black African ethnic groups along the Senegal River who were subjugated by white Arab Berbers.
Image: Robert Asher
'Slave caste'
The Hratine often suffer from discrimination as they are at the very bottom of the social and economic ladder. There are no reliable figures for the number of Hratine. Human rights groups estimate that 10 to 20 percent of Mauritania's 3.5 million people are slaves.
Image: Robert Asher
Fatherless society
"In slavery fathers are irrelevant, their presence is not a factor," says Massaoud Boubacar of SOS Esclaves. "There is no role for the father, because the master owns the women, and when the women give birth the master owns the children, which he might sell or do with as he pleases."
Image: Safa Faki
Seeking justice
Eleven year-old Yarg (right) is one of the very few former slaves in Mauritania to have successfully had his former master convicted for the crimes committed against him. The man was sentenced to two years in prison for a crime that should have resulted in a five-to 10-year-minimum sentence.
Image: Robert Asher
Poverty gap
Mauritania is one of the richest countries in West Africa in terms of fish stocks and mineral wealth, but the riches earned from these resources have not been shared by the general populace.
Image: Robert Asher
Struggle for survival
Matallah's family - here his wife and child - live in grinding poverty, like many Hratine and former slaves. Despite the challenges, they have retained their dignity and an uncommon positivity that a brighter future may be in store for them.
Image: Robert Asher
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What next?
Around 20 Senators, who have held a sit-in for three days in the upper chamber, suspended their protest on Sunday and said they would meet again on Monday to weigh up their next move, according to a statement.
The boycott movement had been prevented from demonstrating by the security forces, which on Thursday shut down planned rallies close to the capital with tear gas and beat protesters back with batons.
The UN Human Rights Office said Thursday that "protest leaders were reportedly beaten up and a number of them were arrested."
