Analysis

Mauritania has a new prime minister and a new cabinet, and the new government appears almost entirely intended to position Mauritania to take advantage of all the attention focused on the country’s hydrocarbons sector, with the exception of two new additions to the government that could be early indications of presidential succession scenarios.

Summer is over and it’s back to work at NARCO and in Algeria, Libya, and Mauritania. Algerian politics are all about Boutef whereas in Libya, politics are all but dead. Mauritania concluded legislative polls, but the big question of presidential succession is left unanswered. The security situation is a mixed bag across North Africa with the Islamic State back in Libya, but Algeria and Mauritania remaining calm. The oil and gas sector is rebounding in Libya, bustling in Nouakchott, and waiting for the green light in Algeria.  

Questions about changes in Algeria's security services are justified. The changes have been extensive; they occur at a time of political sensitivity, with the president having recently been out of the country for medical care; the economy is only just beginning to find its footing after the “lower-for-longer” oil price environment; and the security situation in surrounding countries is deteriorating. The military and the security services are the country’s cornerstone. So, to tinker with them at this time causes understandable agita.

July was topsy-turvy in North Africa with changes all around. Whether those changes amount to anything or they simply mark time is another question entirely. In Algeria, the security services were extensively overhauled. In Libya, more of the same: no political process; terrorism; spikey oil production. In Mauritania, Ould Abdelaziz’s term is coming to an end, the security situation is more dire, and oil activity is ramping up.