MAURITANIA Oil: is Ould Abdel Vetah’s time with the ministry near an end?

摘要

Former president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz’s relations with his successor Mohamed Ould Ghazouani went dramatically pearshaped at the end of November. After a long overseas trip, Aziz came back to Nouakchott determined to take back control of the ruling party Union pour la Republique (UPR). However, nearly all of the UPR party MPs sided with Ghazouani. In late November, the minister of petroleum, energy and mining Mohamed Ould Abdel Vetah drove Aziz to attend a meeting held by those close to the latter within the UPR, some of whom separated themselves from the former president. Since then, Vetah has been trying to distance himself from his mentor in order to hold on to his ministerial seat. He is by far the minister with the closest ties to the former president, being the best friend of Aziz’s late son Ahmedou Ould Abdel Aziz ( AEI 775).