Will Mauritania Become China’s New Player in Africa?
As Mauritania stands out as a rare oasis of stability in the turbulent Sahel region, it has drawn the attention of many global and regional players, according to an analysis by Foreign Policy magazine.
The country’s vast natural resources, strategic location, and successful counterterrorism efforts have made it a coveted partner for China, Russia, and others, who are vying for influence and opportunities in the West African nation.
A recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and his Mauritanian counterpart, Mohamed Ould Sheikh Ghazouani, in Chengdu, China, was an example of the growing interest in Mauritania.
After the meeting, China signed a deal with Mauritania to cooperate in agriculture, fishing, and green energy and offered $21 million to ease its debt burden.
Earlier in June, Germany’s Development Minister Svenja Schulz also visited the UN Refugee Agency in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania.
Geostrategic Competition
These moves reflect the “geostrategic competition” in Mauritania, which is driven by its rich reserves of natural gas and its potential for green energy production from its expansive desert terrain.
Mauritania also boasts a long coastline on the Atlantic Ocean, which gives it access to lucrative fishing grounds and maritime trade routes. It is also one of the largest and least populated countries in West Africa, with abundant resources such as fish, iron, oil, and gold.
However, the analysis notes that Mauritania’s wealth is much lower than the average for lower-middle-income countries, according to the World Bank, which estimated it at between $50 and $60 billion.
Renewable resources account for about two-thirds of its natural wealth, with fisheries alone making up about a quarter of it.
China’s closeness to Mauritania is mirrored by similar initiatives from other major powers and regional actors in the Middle East, who are pursuing various goals ranging from counterterrorism to developing green hydrogen.
These efforts are likely to intensify if the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) decides to intervene militarily in Niger, which is facing a security crisis.
Mauritania’s counterterrorism campaign and democratic transition are looked upon as some of the few success stories in the Sahel region despite its history of coups and the persistence of slavery.
This relatively secure situation has turned Mauritania into a safe haven in the troubled Sahel region and a target of external power competitions.
NATO Member
Mauritania’s participation in NATO’s Mediterranean Dialogue Partnership program since 1995 was hampered by a series of coups that limited its cooperation with Western countries.
The most recent coup in 2008 brought Ghazouani’s predecessor, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, to power, prompting the United States and France to cut off all non-humanitarian aid to Mauritania.
Mauritania, a former French colony in West Africa, has emerged as a key partner for NATO in the region, bolstering its security and energy ties with the alliance amid growing challenges from terrorism, migration, and Russia.
The country, which transitioned to a semi-democratic regime in 2019 after decades of authoritarian rule, has benefited from NATO’s training and assistance to its military and civil authorities, which have improved its capacity to deal with security and public health crises.
In 2021, President Mohamed Ould Ghazouani became the first Mauritanian leader to visit NATO headquarters in Brussels, where he met with Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, who hailed him as a “leader in the G5 Sahel” against terrorism and vowed to enhance security cooperation along the borders.
Mauritania was also invited to attend the NATO summit in Madrid in June 2022 as a non-member partner, sparking rumors that the alliance might be interested in establishing a base on its Atlantic coast, which has a strategic location near the Strait of Gibraltar and the Canary Islands.
According to Basel Reda, a political researcher specialized in African affairs, one of the motives behind NATO’s increased engagement with Mauritania is the desire of European countries to stem the flow of illegal migrants from the Sahel region, where Mauritania serves as a transit point for many Africans seeking to reach Europe.
Spain, which faces a surge of arrivals on its Canary Islands, signed an agreement with Mauritania in November 2022 to provide logistical support to its efforts to stop the smugglers.
“Another factor that has raised Mauritania’s profile is its potential as an energy supplier to Europe, which is looking for alternatives to Russian gas amid rising tensions with Moscow,” Reda told Al-Estiklal.
Mauritania is expected to start exporting gas to Europe by the end of 2023, when the first phase of the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim project, led by British Petroleum and Cosmos Energy, is completed.
Mauritania could become a hub for renewable energy in West Africa, as it has vast areas of land suitable for installing solar panels and wind turbines.
In March 2023, a German project development company signed a memorandum of understanding with an Egyptian energy company and an Emirati company for a $34 billion green hydrogen project in Mauritania, which could produce up to 8 million metric tons of clean fuel annually.
“Moreover, Mauritania could help counter Russia’s leverage over Europe with its energy resources and provide NATO with a foothold near the operations of Wagner Group in Mali,” Reda added.
Complex Relations
The Kremlin, aware of Mauritania’s growing importance, has expanded its relations with Nouakchott, offering military and economic aid and diplomatic support.
In a rare diplomatic move, Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov visited Mauritania in February 2023, signaling Moscow’s interest in expanding its influence in the West African nation.
Lavrov met with President Ghazouani and discussed issues ranging from fishing rights to counterterrorism cooperation.
Lavrov also offered to train Mauritanian doctors, a gesture of goodwill that could help overcome the country’s support for Ukraine in the United Nations.
The report suggested that Russia was seeking to boost its soft power and secure a foothold for the Wagner Group, a private military contractor with ties to the Kremlin, in the strategic region of the Gulf of Guinea.
The report also noted that China, another major player in Mauritania, had a different approach to its investments, aligning them more with European interests.
In 2016, the Mauritanian government awarded a $325 million contract to a Chinese company, Poly Technologies, to develop the port of Ndiago, which is expected to become a hub for energy exports to Europe and connect Mauritania with Senegal, a key partner for Germany’s gas projects in Africa.
However, Reda raised concerns about the transparency and legality of the Ndiago project, citing corruption allegations and US sanctions violations by Poly Technologies for its involvement in Iran’s ballistic missile program.
Mauritania has complex relations with the Middle East, where it has maintained close ties with Saudi Arabia, thanks to the legacy of the late King Faisal, who sponsored many Mauritanian Muslim scholars to study in Mecca.
Mauritania backed Saudi Arabia’s military campaign against the Houthi rebels in Yemen in 2015 and severed ties with Qatar in 2017, following the lead of Riyadh and its allies.
In return, Saudi Arabia launched several development projects in Mauritania, such as a $100 million loan to provide drinking water to the city of Kiffa and a military training agreement signed in 2017.
The United Arab Emirates also pledged to invest $2 billion, equivalent to 40 percent of Mauritania’s GDP, during Ghazouani’s visit to Abu Dhabi in 2020, as part of his ambitious social and infrastructure plan, dubbed “Priorities.”
However, Mauritania also resumed its relations with Qatar in 2021 after the al-Ula agreement ended the blockade on the tiny Gulf state.
This opened the door for Qatar to invest in Mauritania’s offshore oil sector, acquiring a 40 percent stake in the exploration area C10, which holds large oil reserves.
