La pandémie Covid19, c’est aussi une crise économique mondiale. L’Afrique, très faiblement touchée jusqu’ici, voit, cependant, ses structures sanitaires, peu performantes, mises à rude épreuve. Les mesures de confinement, de couvre-feu et autres fermetures de commerces, interdictions de voyages vont durablement affecter les économies des pays du continent très peu résilientes. A la demande d’annulation pure et simple de la dette au profit des pays pauvres, réitérée par Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, président en exercice du G5 Sahel, les partenaires ont préféré un moratoire. Comment les pays du continent en General et la Mauritanie en particulier pourraient-ils surmonter la crise née de cette pandémie. Pour traiter de cette question et d’autre, Horizons poursuit sa série d’interviews. Nous avons interrogé Ibrahim Thiaw, Secrétaire exécutif de la Convention des Nations Unies sur la lutte contre la désertification. Monsieur Thiaw, mauritanien, est aussi conseiller spécial du secrétaire général des Nations Unies au Sahel. « Il possède une quarantaine d’années d’expérience dans le domaine du développement durable, de la gouvernance environnementale et de la gestion des ressources naturelle. »

Mauritania needs to rethink its development by valuing its strengths."
The Covid19 pandemic is also a global economic crisis. Africa, which has so far been very weakly affected, is seeing its poorly performing health facilities put to the test. Containment measures, curfews and other business closures and travel bans will permanently affect the economies of the continent's countries with very few resilients. Calling for the outright cancellation of the debt for the benefit of poor countries, reiterated by Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani, current president of the G5 Sahel, the partners preferred a moratorium. How could the countries of the continent in General and Mauritania in particular overcome the crisis born of this pandemic. To address this and other issues, Horizons continues its series of interviews. We interviewed Ibrahim Thiaw, Executive Secretary of the United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification. Mr. Thiaw, a Mauritanian, is also a special adviser to the Un Secretary-General in the Sahel. "He has 40 years of experience in sustainable development, environmental governance and natural resource management."

Horizons: What impacts could the COVID19 pandemic have on the African continent in general and the Sahel countries in particular which are “ecologically vulnerable. "

Ibrahim Thiaw: Vulnerable countries suffer on the medical level but also and above all on the social and ecological level Everything is linked. Countries with weak medical capabilities are also underdeveloped. The Sahel region has the particularity of a vulnerable ecology. Therefore, one of two things: either people have a serious social problem in the city, they return to rural areas to cultivate. Or those who are in these rural areas cannot produce, they head for the cities. So the pendulum movement between rural areas and cities will intensify. If this movement is not well organized, it could have serious ecological and social consequences. What I just mentioned concerns the short term. The big problem with the Covid-19 is the breakdown of savings. This is a long-term impact. How are the Sahelian countries going to be able to adapt, adjust or, perhaps, rethink their development? It is possible to be wait-and-see and say that everything will work out as is often the case or anticipate taking into account that there is a major transformation of the world economy that is going to take place. And, see how, as small countries from an economic point of view, draw fire chestnuts. This reflection must be carried out in the Sahel countries in general and in Mauritania in particular. Mauritania, which must rethink its development by making the most of its assets. The current economic situation is such that we must either find the path to development or stagnate for a long time. It all depends on leadership, what intellectuals, Mauritanian researchers want to do, what economists will offer. Beyond the ecological dimension, it is an economic, social, political question. It is a question of which trajectory the Sahelian countries want to take. It is a question of how these countries can use their enormous opportunities to start again on new bases and to develop while taking into account the economic moult which operates on a world scale.
Horizons: You said that Mauritania must build on its strengths. What are these assets?
Ibrahim Thiaw: For strengths, I start with the obvious. The Sun is a boon for renewable energy. With good investments, Mauritania can not only meet its needs, but also export the surplus. Mauritania is a country which has political and security stability. Read the whole article from the links above