Supporters of presidential candidate Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid take part in a campaign rally ahead of the presidential election Nouakchott, Mauritania, Monday, June 24, 2024. FILE - Secretary of State John Kerry stands with Biram Dah Abeid, center, and Brahim Bilal Ramdhane, right, of Mauritania as they are recognized as “2016 Trafficking in Persons Report” heroes, whose efforts have made an impact on the global fight against modern slavery, June 30, 2016, in Washington.
Ghazouni faces seven opponents, among them Biram Dah Abeid, an anti-slavery activist who is a candidate for the third consecutive time, leaders of several opposition parties and a neurosurgeon. But the opposition candidates accused his government of corruption and clientelism. There was “a catastrophic management of the state” under Ghazouni’s rule, said Biram Dah Abeid, an anti-slavery activist and Ghazouni’s main rival in the quest for the presidency.
The country has also been denounced for human rights abuses, with the continuous existence of slavery casting a long shadow over its history. For centuries, the country’s economic and political elite of Arab and Amazigh people enslaved Black people from the northwest Sahara.