Mauritania’s crackdown on Islamists before and after the June attack was a factor in the August coup against President Maaouiya Ould Taya. Disturbingly, just as the GSPC is becoming more active in the Sahel, Mauritania is scheduled to begin exporting oil in large quantities. Mauritania expects to pump 75,000 barrels per day as early as November 2005, with production increasing to 250,000 barrels per day in the next two years (at $60 per barrel, that would eventually be worth more than $4 billion a year to a country with a 2004 GDP of just over $5.5 billion).
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