By Me Jemal M. Taleb.
After economy and social issues, diplomacy
I have received calls from all over to congratulate me on Mauritania’s diplomatic success following the election of Dr. Sidi Ould Tah as head of the African Development Bank. Here is one message from Cameroon that summarizes the tone of all:
“Good evening dear brother Jemal, I congratulate you on Mauritania’s high diplomacy regarding the election of the Mauritanian brother as head of the African Development Bank. I know it was a major mobilization of your diplomacy… to achieve this significant political result.”
One thing leading to another, I thought of the prophecy of another Cameroonian, my friend Gaston Kelman. In the book The Swallows of the African Spring, which he dedicated to Mauritania about twenty years ago, he presented this country as one of those birds whose rise nothing could stop. His love for Mauritania sometimes makes him blind, to the point of losing objectivity.
The latest dazzling success of Mauritanian diplomacy, illustrated by the election of a citizen of this country as head of the AfDB, is the third stage of this rocket, which has had some success in the economic and social sectors, to which we can add its political stability. Since the early 2000s, the progress made by this country has surprised all observers.
With Dr. Sidi Ould Tah’s accession to the head of the AfDB, for the first time, a Mauritanian rises to such a prestigious international position. And this was done with a staggering litany of superlatives. As Samba Kamara, a member of the winner’s campaign directorate, aptly points out:
“For the first time in the last thirty years in the history of the AfDB, a candidate was elected in the third round of voting.” Three little rounds and then they go, one could sing. Just a reminder, it took thirteen in 1995, nine in 2005, and six in 2015 to separate the candidates and bring out the white smoke from this profane conclave. “For the first time, a candidate was elected with a score of 76%,” while the best result to date was 65%, Samba recalled.
This election is obviously not a random or isolated act. It crowns a diplomacy initiated by the President of the Republic, Mohamed Ould El-Ghazaouani, who has made his country the only consistent partner of both Europeans and Americans in the region, while remaining faithful to its neighbors.
Thanks to his method, we see the confidence that his African peers and the African Union place in him. It is clear that his stature among neighboring states played a role in their shift in favor of his candidate. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mohamed Salem Merzoug, as well as the Minister of Finance, Sid Ahmed Ould Bouh, also played a part. And we see the result of a united and effective government team.
