Mauritania - Government
	In April 1994 an agreement was signed by Mauritania, Mali and UNHCR representatives regarding the voluntary repatriation of Malian refugees from Mauritania. The Tuareg refugee camp in Mauritania closed in mid-1997, following the repatriation of some 42,000 Malians. Meanwhile, in April 1994 Mauritania, Mali and Senegal agreed to strengthen military co-operation in order to improve joint border security. In January 1995 the Governments of the three countries issued a communique in which they pledged co-operation in resolving -joint border issues and in combating extremism, arms-smuggling and drugs-trafficking. In mid-1996, at the conclusion of a meeting in Mauritania (Nouakchott) of ministers responsible for the interior, the three established joint security measures on their common borders. (An investigation into drugs-trafficking in Mauritania resulted in July in the imprisonment of seven senior police-officers and four magistrates.) In February 1989 Mauritania was a founder member, with Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, of the Union of the Arab Maghreb. The member states subsequently formulated 15 regional co-operation conventions. In February 1993, however, it was announced that, given the differing economic orientations of each signatory, no convention had actually been implemented, and the UMA´s activities were to be ´frozen´. None the less, meetings of UMA leaders continued to be convened annually. Maouya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya became army chief of staff in 1980, and in 1981 he became prime minister. Taya lead a bloodless coup later that year. In 1992 he was elected president amidst protests of fraudulent election practices. Economic reforms provoked violent protests, and ethnic clashes between those of sub-Saharan descent and those of North African descent have produced tension within Mauritania and with neighboring Senegal, where nearly 200,000 Mauritanian refugees reside. Mauritania´s relations with France improved significantly in the early 1990s, following the introduction of multi-party institutions. Taya made an official visit to France in December 1993, during which he held discussions, described as ´fruitful´, with President Francois Mitterrand and the Prime Minister, Edouard Balladur. Bilateral relations were consolidated in September 1997 and in February 1998 as a result of reciprocal official visits made by President Jacques Chirac of France and Taya, respectively. Conversely, in mid-1993 the USA suspended Mauritania´s benefits under its generalized system of preferences -a programme whereby developing nations enjoy privileged access to US markets- on account of the Taya administration´s poor record on workers´ rights. In February 1998 some 3,500 troops from several west African countries, primarily Mauritania, Mali and Senegal, participated in military exercises in Senegal´s border area as part of a French-sponsored initiative to train African forces to conduct regional peace-keeping operations under the auspices of the UN and the OAU. In late November 1995, during a European-Mediterranean conference in Barcelona, Spain, Mauritania signed an agreement to recognize and establish relations with Israel. The Libyan Government denounced the rapprochement and promptly closed its embassy in Mauritania and severed all economic assistance to the country. The Mauritanian Government responded by closing the Libyan cultural centre in Nouakchott. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were, however, restored in March 1997.