Mauritania is a desert-poor country more than twice the size of Montana on the western edge of the Middle East and the Arab world, its northeastern neck craning against Algeria and its southwestern flank coasting the Atlantic for 490 miles. Despite oil discoveries in 2001, and oil production beginning in 2006, benefits haven't trickled down to the majority of the country's 3.3 million people. Mauritania remains the 137th poorest country in the world, out of 177 ranked on the United Nations’ Human Development Index, and 109th out of 157 countries on the Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom.
On Aug. 6, 2008, two days before the Olympics in Beijing, a military coup removed one of the Arab world's two freely elected presidents from power (Lebanon's is the other).
Instability in Mauritania is a concern to the West as fears that the generally moderate Islamic country might become vulnerable to radicalization, though in fairness this week the country's attention, when not diverted by political machinations, has been veered toward its two track and field athletes, Bounkou Camara and Souleymane Chabal El Moctar, who have headed off to Beijing to represent Mauritania in the 2008 Olympic Games.