Mauritania PM, Government Resign After Power Outages

The state-run Mauritanian News Agency (AMI) reported that Djay tendered his resignation to President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani on Friday during a meeting at the presidential palace.

The development followed the submission of an independent commission’s findings to the president on Thursday. The report examined fires that struck two transformer substations operated by the Mauritanian Electricity Company, Somelec, on August 21 and 22.

The incidents occurred less than a day apart and disrupted electricity supply across large parts of Nouakchott and neighbouring areas. The outages also affected Ouad Naga, Idini and Aouleigat, with residents experiencing power cuts lasting between three and five days, depending on their location.

The commission identified significant weaknesses in preventive measures, electrical protection systems, supervision of work and emergency response. It linked the problems to three recently installed power lines.

Overheating was considered the most likely cause of the fires, according to the findings, which reported no evidence of sabotage or operational mistakes.

Somelec subsequently announced that electricity supply had been fully restored at both substations after about five days of repair work.

Djay’s resignation ends more than two years as prime minister. He was appointed in August 2024 as the third person to hold the position under Ghazouani, who began his second presidential term that month.