At least 10 officials of the Mauritanian opposition party Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD), including vice-chairman Dieng Mohamed Koum and members of the executive bureau, have left the country’s main opposition party, reports said on Monday.
The officials said that they resigned from the party after taking stock of its activities in the past year and holding a broad consultation with constituents across the country.
According to Koum, the resignation was the consequence of “a dictatorial drift” in the party in recent years and the increasing presence of tribal leaders since the beginning of the transition (3 August 2005).
He said such changes had “smothered the aspirations to freedom and given less importance to great national issues”.
The group, which claims to be the ”freedom component” of the opposition party, also deplored the fact that the RFD has not championed the issues of slavery, the return of refugees and the fight against exclusion.
