Mauritania bans vehicles from driving at night

During its weekly meeting, the Mauritanian Council of Ministers adopted a number of measures to mitigate the effects of rising energy prices and rationalize energy consumption, including: a ban on vehicle traffic within cities from 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., effective Thursday.

The Mauritanian News Agency quoted the Minister of Culture, Arts, Communication, and Relations with Parliament, and spokesperson for the Mauritanian government, Al-Hussein Ould Medou, as saying during a presentation of the results of a Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday evening: Starting Thursday (April 2), the movement of vehicles within cities will be prohibited, whether for the transport of people or goods, from 12:00 a.m. to 5:00 a.m., with the exception of delivery vehicles and emergency services. He clarified that this is not a curfew but rather one of the measures aimed at rationalizing energy consumption in exceptional international circumstances.

He explained that President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani has directed the government to adopt a package of economic and social measures aimed at mitigating the effects of the recent rise in gas and fuel prices, including: raising the minimum wage by approximately 11 percent, “in consultation with the relevant authorities,” and providing special financial assistance to all civil and military employees, as well as to 124,000 families registered in the social registry.

The Minister of Economic Affairs and Development, Abdallah Ould Slimane Ould Cheikh Sidiya, confirmed that the Council of Ministers had indeed decided, after reviewing the level of fuel subsidies, to introduce adjustments he described as “limited” to fuel prices, including a “slight increase” in the price of household gas, a rise in the price of diesel (gasoil) by approximately 10 percent, and an increase in the price of gasoline by 15.3 percent.