Mauritania Reappoints Prime Minister After Power Outage Report

Mauritania’s Prime Minister Mohamed Ould Cheikh was reappointed on Friday, hours after resigning over an independent report into fires at two main electricity substations in the capital, Nouakchott.

President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani met with the prime minister and tasked him with forming a new government, according to the reported account of the decision.

Substation fires caused widespread outages

The fires affected transformer substations belonging to the Mauritanian Electricity Company, known as Somelec. They broke out on 21 and 22 August, less than 24 hours apart.

The incidents were followed by power outages across large parts of Nouakchott and in the towns of Ouad Naga, Idini and Aouleigat. The disruptions lasted between three and five days.

An independent commission was established to examine the fires and the failures surrounding them. Its report identified “serious shortcomings regarding prevention, electrical protection, work supervision, and emergency management.”

Commission identifies equipment and oversight concerns

According to the commission’s findings, the fires were linked to electrical connectors that did not meet the required technical standards. The connectors had been imported by a private company, and the report connected the problems to three newly installed electrical power lines.

The commission described overheating as the most likely explanation for the fires, rather than sabotage or operational error. It held the private company and officials at Mauritania’s Energy Ministry responsible for the incidents.

The report’s conclusions concern the commission’s assessment of the causes and responsibilities. The available account does not state whether the resulting outages had been fully resolved.

Following the prime minister’s reappointment, President El Ghazouani’s instruction to form a new government places the next step in the hands of Mohamed Ould Cheikh.