NOUAKCHOTT, 3 Dec 2004 (IRIN) - Mauritania opened its first HIV/AIDs testing and treatment centre this week in the hope of improving early detection of the disease in this staunchly Islamic desert state where public discussion of AIDS has long been restrained by social taboos. Full report

NOUAKCHOTT, 30 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - Brushing aside plots to overthrow him and a weakening national currency, President Maaouiya Ould Taya has announced a massive increase in pay and pensions as Mauritania prepares to become Africa's newest oil exporter. Full report

DAKAR, 25 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - Mauritania, the country hardest hit by West Africa's worst locust invasion for 15 years, has appealed for 246,000 tonnes of emergency food aid for destitute villagers and their starving animals, a senior agriculture official told IRIN on Thursday. Full report

OUAD NAGA, 22 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - The mass trial of 181 people accused of plotting a series of attempts to overthrow Mauritanian President Maaouiya Ould Taya has opened at a remote military barracks in the desert. Full report

NOUAKCHOTT, 4 Nov 2004 (IRIN) - Three leading opposition figures in Mauritania were arrested on Wednesday and charged with scheming to overthrow President Maaouiya Ould Taya, lawyers for the politicians have said. Full report

NOUAKCHOTT, 20 Oct 2004 (IRIN) - The government of Mauritania has released 26 military personnel who had been detained on suspicion of involvement in various coup plots dismantled by the government over the past three months, the state run Mauritanian news agency AMI announced. Full report

NOUAKCHOTT, 12 Oct 2004 (IRIN) - The Mauritanian government has arrested Saleh Ould Hanenna, the mastermind of last year's military uprising against President Maaouiya Ould Taya, who had been on the run for 16 months. Full report

NOUAKCHOTT, 29 Sep 2004 (IRIN) - The Mauritanian government has announced that it has foiled a fresh coup plot and has once more accused Burkina Faso and Libya of supporting disaffected soldiers seeking to overthrow President Maaouiya Ould Taya. Full report

KIFFA, 21 Sep 2004 (IRIN) - In the deep south of Mauritania swarms of locusts appear on the horizon like dark menacing sand storms and then arrive to swirl around the countryside like blizzards of thick yellow snowflakes. Full report

DAKAR, 9 Sep 2004 (IRIN) - A Mauritanian agricultural expert has warned that extensive locust damage to crops and pasture will trigger a major food crisis in the country this year. Already, destitute peasants from some villages have started drifting into the towns. Full report

MAURITANIA: Nouakchott gets its first HIV/AIDS test and treatment centre

MAURITANIA: On a bumpy road towards democracy

WEST AFRICA: IRIN Focus on food security in the Sahelian countries //Yearender//