Mauritania

The voice of Western Sahara

Aziza Brahim's childhood as a Sahrawi refugee in Algeria naturally shaped her music, but as her latest album, "Mawja" shows, while she has not forgotten where she comes from, she has long since tuned her ears to a world beyond the camp perimeters

Hopeless reunion in Algeria?

After a two-year hiatus, the Arab League re-convened at the beginning of November in Algiers against a backdrop of uncertainty and discord. By Pierre Boussel

Will North Africa's beaches disappear?

The southern shores of the Mediterranean Sea are losing sand faster than almost anywhere else. The ecological and economic damage is immense. The good news is, there are ways to cope. By Cathrin Schaer and Tarak Guizani

Why blasphemy is a capital offence in some Muslim countries

The Prophet Muhammad never executed anyone for apostasy, nor encouraged his followers to do so. Nor is criminalising sacrilege based on Islam’s main sacred text, the Koran. In this essay, Ahmet Kuru exposes the political motivations for criminalising blasphemy and apostasy

A G10 summit marked by pragmatism

With the "Sommet des deux Rives de la Mediterranee" ("Summit of the Two Shores of the Mediterranean"), French President Emmanuel Macron wants to breathe new life into multilateral co-operation in the Mediterranean region, which has made little progress since 2008. Isabel Schafer has the details

The real enemies of the Arab Spring

For people in the Arab world to be able to throw off the yoke of military rule, a new balance must be struck between political and social forces and the military. Though it is now years since the Arab Spring, this goal still seems a long way off. By Ali Anouzla

Mauritania, land of desert and contrasts

One of a kind

Mbarek Ould Beyroukʹs "The Desert and the Drum" centres on a young womanʹs coming-to-political-consciousness in contemporary Mauritania. Winner of an English PEN Award, this translation, from the French by Rachael McGill, is being touted as the first-ever Mauritanian novel to be published in English. Marcia Lynx Qualey read the book

"If I can restore some of their dignity, my work will have been a success"

Self-taught artist Saleh Lo grew up in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, playing with children from different ethnic communities, among them "Haratin" kids – the children of modern-day slaves in Mauritania. Today, the visual artist portrays freed slaves and anti-slavery activists. Interview by Siri Gogelmann and Wolfgang Kuhnle

Fair trade for a level playing field

To mitigate the root causes of flight and migration, Germanyʹs federal government is contemplating fair-trade agreements with refugee countries of origin. The North African experience shows this will require a re-think of EU policy. By Nassir Djafari