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Mauritania

This article is part of the series: Politics and government of Mauritania

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The Foreign relations of The Islamic Republic of Mauritania have been dominated since independence by the issues of the Spanish Sahara (now Western Sahara or Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic as well as recognition of its independence by its neighbours, particularly Morocco. Mauritania became independent with the help of France in 1960. However, it did not join the United Nations until 1961 due to an initial veto by the Soviet Union. The Arab League disapproved of Mauritanian independence due to Morocco's ambitions for Mauritania. Eventually, Mauritania was admitted to the United Nations in 1961 in response by the Soviet Union to a favorable vote for Mongolia's admission in the same year. Mauritania did initially support France in Northwest Africa to counterbalance Morocco's ambition. By 1962, however, Mauritania turned away from wholesale support of France and began normalizing relations with its neighbors, eventually establishing diplomatic relations with Mali in 1963 through the Treaty of Kayes, Algeria and the United Arab Republic (Egypt and Syria) in 1964. In 1963, Mauritania joined the Organization of African Unity (OAU), which then caused Morocco to resign (Morocco did not recognize Mauritania until 1969). At this point, Mauritania, encouraged by the OAU and the Arab League, did not seek diplomatic relations with Apartheid South Africa, Israel or Portugal. Today, however, Mauritania has normalized relations with all 3, with the downfall of the Apartheid system in South Africa as well as the retreat from colonialism in Portugal. In 1976, when Spain withdraw from the Western Sahara, Mauritania annexed a third of it. Upon this, both Algeria and Morocco withdrew their ambassadors from Mauritania. The rebel Polisario group began raids on Mauritania in 1976 and lasted until 1979 when Mauritania withdrew its claims from the Western Sahara and recognized the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (SADR) as the rightful ruler of the area, though Morocco took control of the SADR because of Mauritania's withdrawal. Since this time, Mauritania has claimed basic neutrality in the disagreement, seeking a peaceful and expidited end to the conflict. Since then, Mauritania has received all of the ambassadors they lost prior to the conflict in the Western Sahara.

Mauritania is one of 3 members of the Arab League that recognize Israel as a sovereign state, the other being its neighbors Egypt and Jordan. This recognition was given by the previous president, Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya along with his cooperation with United States anti-terrorism activities. After the coup by the Military Council for Justice and Democracy in August 2005, recognition of Israel was maintained.