Mauritania

Mauritania is a nation of north-western Africa, bounded by Senegal, Mali, Algeria, Western Sahara and the Atlantic Ocean. Much of its terrirory is desert or semi-desert. It has a land area of 397,955 square miles (1,030,700 sq km) and a population of 3.27 million (2007 est). The capital city is Nouakchott.

Mauritania was formerly a colony of France but gained independence in 1960. In 1976, in a partition agreement with Morocco, Mauritania annexed the southern one-third of the former Spanish Sahara (Western Sahara) (the northern two-thirds being annexed by Morocco). Attacks by the Western Sahara independence movement Polisario led to Mauritania abandoning its Western Sahara territory in 1979; this was subsequently occupied and annexed by Morocco.