That wave of drought,that hit the country, resulted in the death of livestock and many wells,that used to quench the villagers during the last summer trips, were completely depleted. This difficult situation pushed the Mauritanian government to establish more than one agglomeration in the remote areas in an effort to provide people with their daily necessities. However, many families decided to move to the capital of the governoratein an attempt to have new house and a new life and to draw more attention from the human and charitable organizations

From migration to the attempts of displacement

Mahfoudh Ould Emhmidout,the engineer of this congregational trek to the city,says that he encouraged the families that were severely impacted by the drought and desertification, to leave their areas. On the contrary, many city dwellers tried hard to send back these villagers to their homes, in the middle of the desert. They were deprived from potable water that had been given to themin limited quantities. Their children also, were prevented from state school, and many tried tolure some of them to go back voluntarily to the countryside.

Mahfoudh Ould Emhmidout believes that many politicians were afraid that this massive migration couldpave the way for people to flee their homestowards the city, the thing that might impact its demographic aspect and draw a new political map during the upcoming elections.

Ould Emhmidout added saying:” People witnessed months of quarrels and conflicts between citizens and some politicians who tried to involve many governmental officials in this case. However,the local elections that were conducted in late 2013 obliged many politicians to deal with these needy people and support them in exchange of gain their trust during the upcoming elections.

Tragic situations

Maymouna Ment Eideihiour, one of the activist woman in the agglomeration, describes the difficult conditions that people faced in the excluded zone at the beginning of the drought. She says”The countryside lacks the basics of life here including water and food. We are under paidthere and we don’t have paved roads nor electricity, we don’t have enough schools for all our children,our future generations will be delved in a gloomy and unknown future.”

Maymouna also says that many children and elderly people lost their lives in the jungles of the countryside because of the absence of health care,malnutrition and harsh climate.

A glimpse of hope

On the occasion of the electoral campaign that happened in 2013,the Mauritanian government announced that the city of Alak would benefit from the project that aims at modernizing and promoting the region. At the same time, a private company took the initiative to launch many surveys to count the number of families that would profit from the many pieces of lands. But, many technical procedures impeded the project that is still its early phases despite the facts that it was launched 2 years ago.

Obstacles and hindrances

Many officials who work in the company that is working on the project, say that these technical obstacles led to a proportional delay of the project,but despite that, many families were granted official certificates of ownership to build houses. Moreover, many lands were divided so that the contractor construction company build different facilities such as schools and hospitals.

Even the manager of the company says that the project will come to an end soon after overcoming all the difficulties that he faced. He hopes to give a decent view to this city as it is the intersection of many Mauritanian regions and to make it a convenient place to all families.