Historic Mauritanian political debate airs across the globe
Filed under: Africa
The candidate debate leading up to the second round of Mauritania's presidential election is debuting momentarily on Al Jazeera tonight, to be broadcast across the entire region. Suehp Rom calls it "North Africa's equivalent of the Nixon-Kennedy debate." Hardly has ever a moment like this passed in the region, where two candidates are able to freely debate issues of importance to the country in order to legitimately win the votes of the people. From what I know, it will center on international political affairs, such as regional issues and relations with Israel, as well as local politics and rights.
Say what you want about Al Jazeera. It may have a lot of anti-American and and otherwise stupid commentary, but they have a lot of good and interesting content too. Remember, they aren't an American channel -- they're an Arab channel. And the fact that they are the ire of Arab governments everywhere shows how much they've been able to advance the debate on many key issues.
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