POPULATION:
1.5 million
LITERACY RATE:
14%
SELF DEFENSE FORCES:
 EDF
LANGUAGES:
Hasaniya Arabic (official), Pular, Soninke, Wolof (official) 
ETHNIC GROUPS:
Maure, Toucouleur, Fulbe,
Soninké, Wolof, and Bambara
BORDERING COUNTRIES:
Algeria, Mali, Senegal, Western Sahara 
MAURITANIA- Mauritania is like that one kid in School, you know the one.  He used to hate everybody, even himself.  He had almost no friends and would fight anyone who looked at him funny.  He was dirty, unforgiving, tough, and not very bright.  This country has fought one war or another against all the countries that border it for the last 60 years.  However, somehow, due to ethnic ties they have for the most part always managed to ally themselves with Morocco and the Western Sahara.  So when they joined the EEC protectorship Mauritania signed up as well, if only to aggravate Senegal, Algeria and Mali, with whom their has been almost non stop aggression since Mauritania gained its independence in 1960.   Regardless of the human factor, Mauritania itself is one of the least hospitable places on earth, for it is nothing but an ever-growing desert wasteland, and landmines left over from the past conflicts still lay buried in the thousands.  While the EEC has been slowly uncovering many of the mines along the Western Saharan border it is slow going, and at least one death a week in Mauritania is attributed to landmines.  Most of the people in the country are Arabic nomads, who have somehow managed to survive the heat and desert winds, they are also ferocious fighters, who tolerate the European presence only because of mutual enemies.  While they don't really complain about the financial aid, it really doesn't do much for the common people of Mauritania, money won't really feed them, provide water for them, and it certainly doesn't make nomadic life in the harsh desert any easier.

(Written by Deric "D" Bernier)