GOVERNMENT ’MOVES’..THE WEEKEND

MAURITANIA, The Muslim country Mauritania will enjoy “western style” weekends starting from next week. The Muslim weekend consisting of the Friday (day of prayer) - Saturday coupling, will be changed in favor of Saturday-Sunday combination as in the West.

The government of Nouakchott took the decision despite criticism form the opposition and the religious establishment, who noted that Friday is the traditional day of prayer and that it will be very difficult to accept its downgrading from a holiday to a working day.

The main opposition representative, Mohamed Ghoulam Ould Haj Seikh, said that the decision was taken “to improve the image of the regime vis-à -vis the West.” The government replied that a holiday Friday causes the loss of 70 million dollars every year.

President Maawiya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya " continuously in power since December 1984, when he assumed power through a Coup " was reconfirmed in the November 2003 presidential elections obtaining almost 67% of the votes. Mauritania gained independence from France in 1960, it currently has just less than 3 million inhabitants who are almost all Muslims. The legislative system is partly based on the sharìa (Islamic law) and on French civil law.

Recently, and particularly after the war on Iraq started, the Mauritanian president intensified relations with the West and has suppressed national organizations and individuals suspected to be sympathetic to Islamic fundamentalism. [CO]

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