R 311806Z OCT 07
FM AMEMBASSY NOUAKCHOTT
TO SECSTATE WASHDC 6907
INFO ECOWAS COLLECTIVE
MAGHREB COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS NOUAKCHOTT 000912 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV ECON PREF SNAR MR
SUBJECT: OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES IN MAURITANIA'S 
SECOND CITY 
 
¶1. (U) Summary:  Mission personnel have made several trips in 
September and October to Mauritania's second city of 
Nouadhibou.  The city offers unique opportunities and 
challenges for U.S. engagement as both the center of economic 
activity in Mauritania and as the cross-roads for drugs and 
alien smuggling.  End Summary 
 
¶2.  (U) Second City:  Nouadhibou, capital of the Dakhlat 
Nouadhibou province, is Mauritania's second city with a 
population of some 150,000.  About 60,000 residents are 
involved in fishing either as artisanal fishermen, crew 
members for commercial vessels, or in fish processing 
activities.  The Port of Nouadhibou transfers 12 million tons 
of iron ore from mines 300 miles away in Zouerate -- the rail 
line to the mine supports what are billed the longest trains 
in the world.  The national mining company, SNIM, is one of 
the most important employers in the region and is key to 
support of many social services.  Nouadhibou figures 
importantly in Mission activities.  In the past month the 
U.S. Coast Guard trained naval and fishery officials on 
boarding and inspection techniques, the Embassy inaugurated a 
DOD-funded clinic and USAID-funded water project, and public 
diplomacy began preparations for a November cultural event. 
Also in November, the Mission will begin a DOD-supported mine 
awareness campaign for towns along the border with Western 
Sahara. 
 
¶3.  (U) Economy:  The provincial governor or "wali," Abdi 
Ould Horma, has ambitious plans for his province -- telling 
EmbOffs he wanted to make Nouadhibou the "Dubai of Africa" as 
a major transshipment hub.  While somewhat over ambitious, 
the wali told Charge the Government would include a 
development program for Nouadhibou in its Paris Club 
Consultative Group meeting in Paris December 4-6.  The 
proposal will call for expansion of the ore-handling pier, 
expansion of the container terminal and expansion of fish 
processing facilities.  The wali noted that the completion of 
the highway to Nouakchott two years ago had significantly 
increased truck traffic through the border post with Morocco 
with products moving daily between Morocco and West Africa -- 
previously, the current 4 hour trip had to be done over two 
or more days driving on the beach to the capital. 
Substantial new Chinese orders for iron ore will open new ore 
fields and increase annual exports -- although these orders 
have also challenged SNIM to find the cash needed to expand 
production and export capacity.  The port currently does not 
meet demand for pier space.  An EC proposal to remove the 
multiple scuttled vessels that litter the harbor is expected 
to increase traffic. 
 
¶4.  (U) Fishing:  The fishing industry has the greatest 
employment impact on Nouadhibou.  European, Korean and 
Chinese fishing vessels ply the rich resources off the coast. 
 A 2006 EU fishing agreement with Mauritania provides for 
over 110 million Euros annually in economic support and 
license fees.  The Director of the National Oceanography and 
Fisheries Institute in Nouadhibou told Charge that "we 
recognize that fish are our one renewable resource.  If we 
manage it well, it will last forever; however, if we are not 
careful, everything could be lost in a few years and take 
decades to rebuild."  He noted come concern over Chinese 
fishing vessels -- the Chinese have 60 - 70 fishing vessels 
operating in and about the port -- since they employ drag net 
techniques that can destroy the habitat.  The EU has been 
working with Nouadhibou fish processing plants to improve 
phyto-sanitary standards to allow for increases exports to 
Europe of fish not caught by the European fleet (that 
operates and processes off-shore).  The EU has reported 
improvements which would also assist Mauritania to explore 
AGOA export options to the U.S. 
 
¶5.  (U) Boat People:  Government officials highlight the 
difficulty in responding to a growing movement of West 
African migrants trying to reach Spain's Canary Islands in 
open pirogues launching from beaches near Nouadhibou or 
smuggled in fishing boats.  On October 26, a Spanish fishing 
boat discovered the sole survivor of one such pirogue that 
had left from near Nouadhibou on October 3.  The boat ran out 
of fuel a day out of port (reportedly because the crew had 
been swindled when they discovered their jerry-cans of fuel 
were filled instead with water).  Adrift for over a month, 
the passengers set upon each other reportedly throwing the 
weakest overboard.  While Spanish authorities -- who station 
two patrol boats and a surveillance helicopter in Nouadhibou 
-- report that the migrant flow is down, the numbers are 
still in the hundreds each month.  The wali told Emboffs the 
government had limited legal standing to prevent attempted 
boat crossings by the largely West African would-be migrants. 
 Freedom-of-movement agreements between Mauritania and most 
ECOWAS countries allows non-Mauritanians to stay in 
Nouadhibou while they look for a boat.  He said, "only if we 
find a van load of people at 3 o'clock in the morning with an 
outboard motor in the back seat, can we arrest anyone." 
 
 
Mayor Mohamed Fdel Ould Abu Bekrim told Emb Offs the migrants 
had also brought the problems one would expect with such a 
desperate population -- stress on the city's sparse services, 
criminality, and prostitution with the corresponding spread 
of AIDS. 
 
¶6.  (U) Drugs:  In addition to alien smuggling, drugs also 
pass through Nouadhibou.  In the spring, a small plane making 
an emergency landing in Nouadhibou was discovered to be 
carrying over 500 kilos of cocaine.  Last week, police seized 
over 5000 kilos of hashish in two trucks using a smuggling 
route into Morocco.  The wali noted that the border is thinly 
patrolled and that the "no man's land" on the opposite side 
of the border (a strip nominally administered by the UN 
MINURSO mission in Western Sahara) is a wild area locally 
referred to as "Khandahar."  The mayor told PAO the drug 
trade made him particularly concerned about the well-being of 
Nouadhibou's many unemployed youth and sought U.S. assistance 
to support youth centers and income generation schemes. 
 
HANKINS