Mauritania stands at the crossroads of modernity, with deep potential tensions between different groups (“white” Maures, “black” Afro-Mauritanians, and “Haratin”), threatening the country’s socio-political stability.
Recent discoveries of world-class hydrocarbon reservoirs offshore southern Mauritania, an area principally peopled by Afro-Mauritanians, further adds to these tensions. This could cause an uprising of a merged portion of the black African population against Maure dominance, with a potential balkanisation of the country in a similar scenario to that of the former Sudan. This seminar explores these tensions and explains their roots. It will also propose potential remedies that can be formulated as public policies and joint government- industry actions to counteract potential instability. Profile: Max is a graduate geologist (UNSW, 1975) with 44 years of international experience and has been instrumental in finding and championing the evaluation of significant hydrocarbon and mineral discoveries, most especially in Africa and the Near-East. He is an “Officer of the National Order of Merit for the Islamic Republic of Mauritania”. This is the second such award given to a foreigner by the Mauritanian Government, the first being to the French President Charles de Gaulle. He was the Honorary Consul for the Republic of Mali in Perth between 2005 and 2016. Max has a Graduate Diploma in Business (1988), a Masters in International Relations (2010), and a Doctorate in International Affairs awarded with Chancellor’s recommendations in 2015. Max presently heads African Geopolitics, a socio-political advisory group that assists African governments and foreign companies in the natural resources industries to work together on the African continent. Entry for this event is free. Please register your interest through [email protected]
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