A potentially serious infestation of desert locusts has broken out in Mauritania, but experts are hopeful that quickly implemented countermeasures will prevent a  repeat of the plague that hit the region five years ago.

Local emergency control operations in Mauritania have successfully contained a massive outbreak of desert locusts which were threatening to spread north to other countries in West Africa and devastating farmers' livelihoods, the United Nations Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) reported today.

Farmers in Mauritania will receive financial help to turn milk into butter and cheese, to clean and package the vegetables they grow and to add value to other raw products under a $12 million programme unveiled by the United Nations agency tasked with eradicating rural poverty.

Campaigners against HIV/AIDS in Mauritania face an uphill task to put their messages across, especially those that deal with safer sex and condom use. Campaigners have to cut corners in order to avoid angering the country's powerful religious clerics.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today called on the leadership and people of Mauritania to consolidate their country's democratization and reconciliation by pursuing dialogue in the wake of the recently concluded presidential elections.

Coup leader-turned-politician General Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz has been declared winner of Saturday's presidential elections by Mauritania's Interior Ministry.

The retired Catholic archbishop of Port Louis, Cardinal Jean Margéot, a highly respected figure in Mauritius, died on Friday aged 93.

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who overthrew an elected government in Mauritania 11 months ago, was himself chosen president of the country in a new election at the weekend. But four opposing candidates rejected the result.