What happens in Mauritania every day is key for the port of Las Palmas. From this facility depend businesses such as octopus, squid, and jurel, as well as the financial stability of Oryx Energies, which is the key fuel supplier for the country. Last weekend, in the cold setting of the Munich Security Conference, Mauritania’s Minister of Defense, Hannena Ould Sidi, was present. There, he formalized what risk analysts consider the last rational line of defense in the Sahel. Ousmane Kane, Minister of Economic Affairs and Promotion of Productive Sectors of the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, was also present. In other words: geoeconomics in its purest form. Mauritania is the hinge of Las Palmas in Africa and vice versa. Hannena Ould Sidi participated in a panel with Robert Dussey, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Cooperation and African Integration, Republic of Togo; Svenja Schulze (Federal Minister for Economic Cooperation and Development, Federal Republic of Germany); Nathalie Loiseau (Chair of the Subcommittee on Security and Defense, Renew Europe Parliamentary Group, European Parliament); Abdou Abarry (Special Representative for Central Africa and Head of the Regional Office of the United Nations for Central Africa, United Nations); and Jana Puglierin (Moderator, Head of the Berlin Office and Senior Policy Fellow, European Council on Foreign Relations) where the topic was: ‘On Quicksand: Promoting Stability in the Sahel.’ His intervention was not merely a plea for assistance, but an exposition of a doctrine that seeks to disconnect Mauritania from the ‘domino effect’ of coups d’état and Western withdrawals that have transformed its neighbors in the Sahel Alliance of States (AES) into satellites of Russian para-state influence. Nouakchott now proposes a model of ‘human security’ where economic development is not a secondary objective, but the central piece of its defense architecture. The Mauritanian strategy rests on the premise that military victory is pyrrhic if the state fails to occupy the socioeconomic void. In an environment where disinformation and extremism thrive on institutional fragility, Ould Sidi’s administration bets on military modernization accompanied by social inclusion policies. By stabilizing its borders not only with patrols but with basic services and employment programs, Mauritania is draining the human capital that nourishes transnational crime and jihadism. This comprehensive vision positions the country as a laboratory of stability in a geographical belt marked by insurgency and operational chaos. However, the pragmatism of Nouakchott faces intense geopolitical headwinds. The redefinition of Mauritania’s role occurs at a time of terminal decline of traditional French influence and a repositioning of international actors seeking access to resources on the southern flank. The capacity of the state to maintain a balanced defense policy—open to multilateral cooperation without falling into bloc polarization—is the country’s greatest asset but also its greatest vulnerability. The country must manage migratory pressure and the porosity of its vast deserts while trying to transform its relative security into a driver of foreign direct investment. Ultimately, the sustainability of the Mauritanian model will depend on its ability to address structural challenges that are not resolved in the Munich offices: persistent unemployment and social inequality. If Nouakchott succeeds in consolidating this ‘socioeconomic security’, it will not only secure its own survival but will confirm itself as the credible regional actor capable of mediating in one of the most volatile regions of the globe. On the Great Board of the Sahel, Mauritania no longer only protects its territory; it is selling a governance recipe that is, for now, the only life insurance for the stability of North Africa and, by extension, the southern border of Europe, namely, the Canary Islands.
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