Mauritania: Students Sacked because of Activism · Global Voices
أحمد جدو

The story of the expulsion of students from Nouakchott University due to their activism has resurfaced again, this time following a decision by the disciplinary council at the Medicine Faculty to sack a group of students who held a voluntary week to clean up the faculty. Also, the expelled students are charged with organising some sports activities students have been organizing annually and finally the distribution of papers containing course material and samples of exam answers.
That decision was met with great disdain by the expelled students’ colleagues, who suspended their studies and announced they will persist with their action until the council retracted its decision, which they considered a threat to all medicine students and an offense to them. Students also staged various protests, the latest being in front of the Presidential Palace.
Below is a video of the demonstration held facing the Presidential Palace, asking for the release of their comrades:
This not the first time such an incident happens at Nouakchott University. Twenty-one other students from various faculties (some of them senior ones) were expelled earlier this year in the aftermath of the protests witnessed by the establishments, which were asking for the fulfillment of some of their demands. Nouakchott University has been transformed this year into a war scene as Mauritanian Security Forces raided the campus on a daily basis, amid a crackdown on protesters and arrested activists. Moreover, officers with their military gear would camp for months at the university entrance. Another scandal hit the institution a few months ago when president's chief of staff Isselkou Ould Izidbih [former president of the University of Nouakchott] tried to bribe some students so that they renounce their activism. Instead, they refused and revealed the case to the media.
Photo of the sacked students
Mauritanian writer and blogger Abbass Braham noted [ar]
He continues:
Blogger Mohaed Abdou also talks about this phenomena in his blog “الكاشف” (The Discoverer):
Mauritania of Tomorrow موريتانيا الغد Facebook Page also tackled the story:
لايزال قرار الطرد الظالم بحق 6 طلاب من كلية الطب ساري المفعول، حسب مقربين من هؤلاء الطلاب فهم مجموعة من المتميزين دراسيا والمتفوقين دائما في كلية الطب حديثة النشأة، الخدومين جدا، تهمتهم أنهم قاموا رفقة زملائهم في نقابة منتخبة بالقيام بمجموعة أنشطة تطوعية من بينها تنظيف الكلية وحملة تبرع بالدم وتوزيع الدروس والامتحانات في أنشطة معتادة كل سنة، وبدل التكريم في خطوة غريبة تمت مكافئتهم بالطرد
Al Dedda Weld Ibrahim tweeted:
The academic year is almost over and the torment of the sacked students is still ongoing
Mohamed Abdou also says:
@medabdou هل تعلم أن الطلبة الذين طردوا من كلية الطب هم طلبة متفوقون بإمتياز دائما، وأنهم طردوا فقط لمزاولتهم العمل النقابي ؟
He added: