Mauritania's Biram Dah Abeid quits parliament

Mauritanian opposition lawmaker and anti-slavery activist Biram Dah Abeid said on Monday that he was resigning from parliament, accusing the government of mismanagement and corruption.

Abeid made the announcement during a televised plenary session attended by the prime minister. He said parliamentary debates had become pointless and said he would oppose the current government through legal means and political action.

Abeid leads the Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, which campaigns against slavery and slavery-linked practices in Mauritania. He has run for president three times and was defeated by President Mohamed Ould Cheikh El Ghazouani in 2024, when Ghazouani won 56 percent of the vote and Abeid 22 percent.

Abeid was first elected to parliament in 2018 while he was in prison and was re-elected in May 2023 as part of an opposition alliance. Mauritania has legislated against slavery, and the state denies that slavery still exists, saying only its after-effects remain.