Mauritania Reappoints Prime Minister Hours After Resignation Over Power Outages

Mauritania’s prime minister, Mohamed Ould Cheikh, was reappointed on Friday, hours after resigning over a report concerning fires at two main electricity substations in the capital, Nouakchott.

President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani met with the prime minister after the resignation and tasked him with forming a new government. The composition of the new administration was not provided.

Inquiry into substation fires

The report followed fires that broke out less than 24 hours apart on 21 and 22 August at transformer substations belonging to the Mauritanian Electricity Company, known as Somelec. The facilities were located in Nouakchott and its suburbs.

The incidents triggered power outages across large parts of Nouakchott and affected the towns of Ouad Naga, Idini and Aouleigat. The outages continued for between three and five days.

An independent commission found what it described as serious shortcomings involving prevention, electrical protection, work supervision and emergency management.

Commission identifies equipment concerns

According to the commission’s findings, the fires were linked to electrical connectors that did not meet required technical standards. The connectors had been imported by a private company, whose name was not provided.

The commission connected the problems to three newly installed electrical power lines. It identified overheating as the most likely cause of the fires, rather than sabotage or operational error.

The report held the private company and officials at Mauritania’s Energy Ministry responsible for the incidents. The names of the company and the officials were not disclosed.

The prime minister’s resignation and subsequent reappointment took place on the same Friday. The available information does not specify the exact time of either decision or the calendar date.