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Mauritius In Crisis As Militarized Police Deployed Against Peaceful Protestors

This article is more than 3 years old.

The crisis facing the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius dramatically worsened last week.

For the first time in its history, armed militarized police were deployed against peaceful protestors in the capital city.

This follows attacks on freedom of expression and freedom of movement in the Indian Ocean island country since the major oil spill last summer. Until recently, Mauritius was viewed as a politically and economically stable ‘Singapore of Africa.’

While this may initially be dismissed as small island politics, there was nothing ordinary about the week’s events. It should be viewed in the broader context of how the weakening of the multilateral system and the international agenda of the outgoing U.S. President has allowed the rise of authoritarian Governments around the world, who are using the power of unregulated technology and erosion of independent institutions to suppress civil and human rights globally.

The last four years of the Trump Presidency has allowed Governments in most regions of the world to pass increasingly repressive media laws, use technologies that infringe on civil rights without appropriate safeguards (such as face recognition cameras), hollow out previously independent institutions (such as Central Banks and Electoral Commissions), use Silicon Valley tech giants like Facebook and Google’s GOOG own rules to permit unregulated invasive mass surveillance against populations and dissenting voices, all with the aim of remaining in power, amid a widespread increase in large-scale corruption around the world. Mauritius provides a clear case example of this rapid descent into authoritarianism, that is also being seen around the world.

The international fight for civil rights, well-functioning democratic institutions, and a more relevant multilateral system will be - by far, along with addressing the Climate Crisis - the greatest foreign policy challenge for President-elect Biden’s incoming Secretary of State, Antony Blinken. Going back to a pre-Trump era will not be sufficient. Blinken will need to ‘Build Back Better’ coming out of both the coronavirus pandemic and one of the darkest periods in U.S. history, as President-elect Biden has described this week’s events. Multilateral institutions, such as the United Nations, need to be brought out of their 70 year slumber and rapidly into the 21st century to face up to the big global challenges of the next decade and beyond.

Mauritius’ rapid slide into authoritarianism

Thursday’s heavily militarized deployment in Mauritius was designed to intimidate and prevent unarmed protestors who have been demanding the Government resign over its handling of the oil spill and a series of corruption cases that have now rocked the nation.

This is the third time since the oil spill in August that protestors have been suppressed by the police force in Mauritius (two large protests were permitted on August 29 and September 12 before the clampdowns). Legal experts have called the move to prevent peaceful public protests by banning public gatherings and restricting access to certain regions as anti-constitutional. However, these concerns were disregarded as militarized police were deployed into the capital city on Thursday, including heavily armored vehicles, assault rifles and armed police snipers on roofs.

At the heart of the crisis are widespread allegations of electoral fraud committed by the incumbent party in the November 2019 parliamentary elections in Mauritius, potentially with the involvement of foreign influences.

It has been over 12 months since complaints were first lodged in court, but a series of tactics used by the Government - that included emergency COVID-19 measures and a State of Emergency created by the Wakashio oil spill - have delayed these cases from being heard by judges.

An increasingly authoritarian and unpopular Government has been seeking to silence dissenting voices since the oil spill attracted over 100,000 protestors on the streets of the capital city in August on the island nation that has a population of 1.3 million.

In December, the Government decided to suspend parliament again for three months - the second time such an extended suspension has happened in the six months since the Wakashio oil spill, and following the use of emergency COVID-19 rules to restrict parliament earlier in the year - having still not fully accounted for its actions during the summer. These decisions have been called illegal by opposition leaders who have demanded parliament - and democratic accountability - remain open. In that time over October and November, the Mauritian Government has increasingly targeted independent media in the country (especially the leading private radio station and the largest newspaper).

The Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth, has failed to explain the recent clampdown on human rights in the country, having not spoken at an open press conference with all members of the media since the Wakashio oil spill in August.

Thursday’s deployment of militarized police force came as new evidence was being presented in a Port Louis court about electoral fraud from the 2019 elections in the usually peaceful Indian Ocean island.

Last week’s show of military force

The deployment of such a large militarized police presence was triggered by the appearance of a Senior Mauritius’ Cabinet Minister in a trial that is captivating the island nation. The legal case involves Mauritius’ Minister of Commerce (who ran for office in the same political constituency as the Prime Minister) and the fictitious employment of the wife of a murdered political activist, who was unaware her name was being used. Her husband, who now appears to have been murdered in October following the police’s initial ruling of suicide, had been about to present evidence that electoral laws in Mauritius involving the Prime Minister had been broken. This evidence has been widely circulating among the local media in Mauritius, such as L’Express and Le Mauricien newspapers.

A team of lawyers, calling themselves ‘The Avengers’ after the Marvel series, have risen to prominence since November by taking on private investigations and filing legal cases into the cause of several mysterious deaths that have occurred in the country since the Wakashio oil spill, amid what is being viewed as police complicity. In addition to the deceased political activist, there have been deaths in mysterious circumstances of a 30 year old official in the Prime Minister’s Office and a 38 year old procurement official in the Ministry of Finance, both of whose bodies were discovered separately in December, raising questions about whether there is an extra-judicial death squad in operation in Mauritius.

Closure of the capital city

The protestors had gathered outside the court where the Cabinet Minister’s case was to be heard, demanding justice for the families of the deceased. The police had initially attempted to ban the protests by closing down central Port Louis and forced the closure of the main Cathedral of the capital city (St Louis Cathedral) where the protestors were to meet, opposite the law courts of Mauritius. Worshipers have expressed their anger at the forced closure of their church that was not connected in any way to events happening in the city and felt they were being targeted and penalized as well. What was not expected was the disproportionate show of militarized police.

Armed police snipers were seen on the roofs of several surrounding buildings, police with assault rifles had amassed in surrounding streets and the local horse racing track, and large armored amphibian personnel carriers were brought into the center of capital city Port Louis and strategic locations around the airport. When the large crowds spotted the snipers, they humorously beckoned the snipers to come off the roofs and join them for a meal, to show they were peaceful and unarmed.

Despite the police intimidation, lawyers, trade unionists, environmental and social activists continued to gather in the grounds of the Cathedral, which is private land. Videos captured the arrest of a female bystander, who was forcibly led away and later charged by police.

Police could be heard citing that the arrest was initially due to her not wearing a COVID-19 facemask, but then not giving a further explanation when she placed a facemask on herself and was still forcibly led away.

In stark contrast, other women supportive of the Government and not wearing masks, were permitted to shout at protestors to incite violence in a more aggressive manner, yet were left alone by the police who watched passively and did not press any charges.

Police and Government actions widely decried

There has been universal criticism of the Government’s actions and the clamp down on human rights in the country.

Member of Parliament from the Opposition Labour Party, Shakeel Mohamed, said that he had never seen such an amassing of military force in nearly 30 years of practicing as a lawyer in Mauritius in the way he saw on Thursday. Speaking to private radio station, Top FM at St Louis Cathedral, he said, “the mobilization has happened because a Minister of the Republic has been accused of a crime, and must face the justice from those who have accused him.”

He then described the scenes he saw. “However, I am shocked to see military vehicles and the number of masked para-military forces being deployed in the capital. I was sad to see the police had even deployed armed snipers on top of the buildings. The police are responsible for the mobilization seen today.” He called on the police to act independently from political forces, as set out in the Mauritian constitution.

Mohamed went on to say, “Today is a day that is very sad for the Republic of Mauritius. It is the first time we’ve ever seen this. In 28 years practicing as a lawyer in Mauritius, I have never seen anything like what I’m seeing today. I have to ask whether the police, represented by the Commissioner of Police, is acting in a way that is independent?”

‘Repressive forces’ to silence dissent

Ashok Subron, spokesperson from local social and ecological group Rezistans ek Alternativ, who was also present at the protest, said, “Rezistans ek Alternativ activists decided to be on the street of Pope Hennessy and Cathedral Square, on Thursday 7 January 2021, as a conscious political act. The aim was to protest against the decision of the Commissioner of Police, taken on the eve to declare part of Port Louis, a quasi restricted zone, while a Senior Minister Sawmynaden was called to the Court, to answer a private provisional prosecution charge for fictitious employment.

Indeed, on Thursday 7th, a heavily militarized arsenal and personnel, with snipers, hooded-masked gunmen, police dogs, fully armed soldiers, bullet protected riot police, took control of the heart of the capital to put in place severe restrictions on people movements, while the Minister attended court.

This kind of deployment was never seen in post-independence Mauritius. Unreasonable, unjustified, non-rational, it was more characterized by political motives than public safety interest. Ironically, such military deployment have never been put in place to defend our territory, nor was put in place to take control of the Wakashio bulk carrier and stop its shipwreck and oil spill, on the Mauritian shore last July-August!

Instead of the Commissioner of Police taking proper actions to elucidate severe accusation of misappropriation the public funds by the Minister Sawmynaden and elucidate the assassination of a political henchman of the Prime Minister and his two Senior Ministers (all election running mates in same Constituency No. 8), the Commissioner opted to offer a ‘special’ militarized display of the capacity of the repressive forces to silence growing discontents of the people.

Was there any other, even worst hidden or sinister motives for such a militarized display? Unfolding events will tell.”

Calls to allow peaceful protests to be allowed

Lawyers have called for the rights of Mauritians to be allowed to protest in peace, and for justice for the families of those who have died in mysterious circumstances.

In a letter and statement addressed to the Commissioner of Police of Mauritius, two of the lawyers in the team of 'The Avengers,' representing the wife of the deceased political activist Soopramanien Kisten, decried the disproportionate show of force against the citizens of Mauritius.  

On January 8, lawyers Rama Valayden and Rouben Mooroongapillay said to the Head of the Mauritius Police Force, Khemraj Servansing, "We beg to draw your attention that since the death of political activist Soopramanien Kistnen in October 2020 and the whole saga has started to unravel, there has not been a single case of violence, despite the prevailing nature of this case.  In court, on Thursday 7 January 2021, civility was the mantra of the day."  

They went on to call for the right for Mauritians to be allowed to protest peacefully.  "So that Mauritius does not live another ugly and sad Thursday 7 January 2021, we earnestly pray to you:

  • Not to have recourse to Thursday 7 January 2021 Military Mode of Action which is tainting the democratic reputation of our republic
  • Not to flood the Court with undue and unnecessary presence of Police Officers (Civil, Uniformed or Agents of the National Security Service)

  • To resort to democratic and non-repressive actions in order to refurbish the image of Police.

We pray on our knees not to issue another Police Notice which could sap the moral of our great nation."

The lawyers then went on to highlight the timing of the deployment of the militarized police and the motivation for their deployment. Mooroongapillay said, “It is to be noted that the Police stated that they had information that there will be disorder and that those measures were put in place for the security of the population but the anecdote is that soon after the Cabinet Minister Yogida Sawmynaden left the court's premises, all the military deployment left Port-Louis whilst the crowd was still present.”

This raises questions whether the visible use of the militarized police force had been motivated by the protection of a Minister or to safeguard the crowd from disorder.

The contrasting use of such a heavy armed police to escort a Government Minister comes a decade after the high profile murder of Northern Ireland’s Michaela McAreavey née Harte in her hotel room on her honeymoon that shocked Mauritians and the world. Since that time, bold police reforms had been promised, including by the current Prime Minister. The case against hotel workers charged with the murder collapsed in 2012, and her family and widow, John McAreavey, promised this weekend to keep on fighting for justice, along with Northern Ireland’s leaders. Lawyers involved in the case have claimed a couple in Germany who were staying in the hotel at the same time had relevant information but were never interviewed by police.

European Union ‘carefully assessing situation’

A spokesperson from the European Union’s Ambassador to Mauritius said that the EU was carefully assessing and documenting the evolving human rights situation in Mauritius.

On January 7 the spokesperson said, “As you are aware, the European Union is a staunch supporter of human rights and promotes and defends their universality and indivisibility both within the EU and in our partner countries.

The EU in interaction with the civil society and analysts (such as Ibrahim index, Transparency International and others) is carefully assessing and documenting its assessment with a view to discuss these issues with the authorities in the framework of our political dialogue. The next political dialogue is due to take place in the course of the first semester of 2021.”

Forbes has reached out to Transparency International for a comment on the situation in Mauritius but have not heard back.

Mauritius’ rapidly degenerating Human Rights situation

The rapid descent of human rights in Mauritius can be seen through a series of linked-events over the course of 2020 with the use of emergency COVID-19 rules to suspend parliament and freedom of movement, and the State of Emergency declared following the Wakashio to clamp down on human rights and civil liberties on the country.

1. Suppressed public protests (October 16 and November 8)

After large and peaceful protests on August 29 and September 12, protestors were forced to cancel marches planned for October 16 and on November 8.

This was initially because the Mauritian police refused to permit any more protests (which was later overturned by judges), and then upon learning that violent mobs close to the Government planned to infiltrate the peaceful protestors and portray the protestors as violent.

With women and children part of the protest march, protest organizer, Bruneau Laurette, took the decision to cancel the march rather than risk the safety of the demonstrators. The protests in August and September were peaceful and musical affairs, and had previously represented all communities of Mauritius, which is famous for its multi-cultural history.

Earlier that week on November 2, Mauritius had been shocked by a motorcade of vehicles driving around Mauritius, waving machetes and the Indian flag. This coincided with several racially provocative messages designed to inflame tensions between the Hindu, Muslim and Creole communities on media and Facebook channels sympathetic to the Government, as well as what appeared to be a coordinated set of attacks against religious monuments across the country (images of which Forbes has chosen not to publish to avoid further inflaming the local situation). Local community leaders had stepped up to repair the damage, yet no charges have ever been brought against those responsible.

The deepening links between the violence in Mauritius driven by organizations in India is particularly concerning. There have been growing concerns in Mauritius about the presence and actions of thousands of workers from India working on large infrastructure projects in Mauritius.

No charges have been brought against those responsible for wielding the swords, whereas those who have criticized the Government on social media platforms like Facebook, have been subject to several hours of police interrogation and harassment.

2. Arbitrary arrests of activists

Since the grounding of the Wakashio, the highest profile protestor has been maritime security expert turned social activist, Bruneau Laurette. He was the first to identify serious failings and raised important questions about several suspicious vessels for the twelve days that the Wakashio was on Mauritius’ reefs. This was revealed on local online TV and radio show, Top FM.

Laurette called for a peaceful demonstration in Port Louis on August 29 that attracted over 100,000 demonstrators (with some estimates going as high as 150,000).

When he organized a second protest two weeks later on September 12, there was a co-ordinated effort to disrupt the protests and large scale interference in the self-organized Facebook groups which had been co-ordinating the response.

Ten days later on September 22, Laurette was charged by police with a minor offense - of submitting a check twelve months prior that did not clear for $200 for a rental car. He pleaded not guilty and the car rental company confirmed that all funds had been repaid in full, yet he continued to be detained by police. By charging organizers in this way, it meant they had to report to the Mauritian Police Station regularly, which acts as a restriction on their activities. The targeted action against Bruneau Laurette was universally criticized by all opposition parties and social activists, who have accused the police as acting on political instructions rather than in the interests of the population.

3. Arrests for Social Media posts critical of the Prime Minister

There have been arbitrary police detentions against individuals in the country for sharing humorous or social media posts critical of the Prime Minister.

These arrests have been noted by the heavy handed tactics of the police, which lawyers have described as, “disturbing.”

A former senior civil servant and secretary to the former President of Mauritius was detained overnight on April 15 without access to a lawyer, and kept in a room with armed police for sharing a meme in a Facebook group, that had already been widely circulated in other groups.

She explained that she was deliberately targeted and arrested at her home at 1pm, and although the police finished taking a statement by 2.30pm, she was detained until 5pm and told she had to remain in detention overnight. She was not given access to her lawyer until 9am the following day, in breach of human rights in Mauritius, and her lawyers were then charged the following day with breaching COVID-19 laws. Such charges now restrict her movement in the country and require regular court appearances.

Several high profile women have accused the Mauritian police of politically-motivated gender violence during police detention where they say they had been strip-searched, even though they had been called in for minor, non-violent charges.

4. Journalists and media harassed by police for investigative reporting

In the weeks that followed the Wakashio oil spill, the private radio and online TV station, Top FM has become one of the most popular investigative reporting radio shows in Mauritius, with a high profile weekly show hosted by journalist Murvind Beetun. Its hour-long features on the Wakashio oil spill and other big events in Mauritius give it an online audience of over 100,000 viewers and many more over the airwaves of the island.

The combination of senior guests and hard hitting questions have captivated the nation, especially as many questions continue to go unanswered surrounding the Wakashio oil spill and several other big issues in the country.

Host and investigative journalist, Murvind Beetun has produced a series of investigations into alleged corruption and corporate malpractice at some of Mauritius’ largest state-backed institutions.

Since these investigations, all advertising from Government-linked bodies have been withdrawn from Top FM (in breach of Mauritius’ state advertising guidelines designed to promote an independent media and proportional division of advertising spend based on audience share).

In an even more bizarre twist, on December 15, the radio broadcast license of Top FM was suspended by Mauritius’ radio regulator Mauritius’ Independent Broadcasting Authority. The reason given for the suspension was not for criticism of a member of the Mauritian Government, but for a panelist who criticized the involvement of the Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, in Mauritius’ domestic affairs in a show on 24 February 2020.

The owners of Top FM demanded a legal review of the decision and the license was reinstated pending that judicial review.

Beetun has had to take steps to ensure his safety since his investigative journalism pieces into alleged corruption at the very highest levels of state institutions, and was detained by police for extended questioning on October 13. However, he continues to broadcast his popular news show, Tempo La Chaud, on Top FM.

Following the judges’ orders to review the Broadcast Authority’s decision to suspend the Top FM radio license, the online sites of Top FM were blocked within Mauritius, preventing those in the country from accessing news on those sites without the use of a Virtual Private Network (VPN).

5. Restrictions on media attending press conferences

The newspaper with the highest readership in Mauritius is French-language, L’Express. Police raids on the homes of L’Express journalists attracted international media coverage in 2017. However, since the Wakashio oil spill, its journalists (as well as those from radio station Top FM) have been prevented from attending any of the Prime Minister’s press conferences.

Over the past year, L’Express, has been conducting a high profile and closely followed investigative report into alleged corruption involving the UK’s Serious Fraud Office and Mauritius’ Anti Corruption Institution (ICAC).

A series of lawsuits were launched by the Mauritian Prime Minister and targeted against L’Express newspaper and the journalists covering this story at the time when the Wakashio was stuck on Mauritius’ reefs in July.

6. Interference with Facebook, Google and YouTube

It is not just domestic media within Mauritius that has been targeted.

Facebook is the largest social media platform in the country as well as having a large market share as a messaging service through Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger. However, there has been growing concerns of interference in Facebook groups, accounts and pages, in addition to a large scale and organized creation of fake profiles seeking to comment with increasingly divisive language. This interference has been universally uni-directional, against those who have made comments critical of the Government. This raises questions that the Buzzfeed investigation first unveiled last year that Facebook has become the go-to surveillance and repression tool for authoritarian Governments around the world. Even entrepreneur Elon Musk urged users to move toward the more encrypted messaging app, Signal Messenger, earlier this month following a privacy update by Facebook’s Whatsapp that opened up even more access to user’s data.

It is not just Facebook that is being targeted. On September 21, Google’s YouTube was blocked in Mauritius, when several videos linked to the Wakashio were widely believed to have been uploaded.

In that time, many Facebook users have complained that they are being being harassed online with threats of sedition. This is not a term that had previously been commonly used in Mauritius, but has become very common in India under Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who has used sedition laws to clamp down on journalists, freedom of speech and social activists.

7. Mass surveillance

In 2017 under the Jugnauth Government, Mauritius installed a new system of cameras, called the ‘Safe City’ project. The contract was for $500 million with Mauritius Telecom and installed nearly 3000 cameras across the island. Combined with biometric National I.D. cards, these two tools have serious implications for civil liberties in the country.

After being installed, it was later revealed that these cameras were equipped with facial recognition artificial intelligence technologies that did not have any independent public oversight.

Despite being designed to ensure public safety, at the time of the protests of 29 August, 12 September, and the suspicious deaths of the civil servants and political activists in October and December last year, these cameras did not appear to be working. This is raising suspicion in the country about whether countries like Mauritius have sufficiently independent institutions (beyond simply a Government-appointed Data Commissioner).

Perhaps new institutions are required around the world, similar to independent Central Banks, but this time for data. Such institutions that would be constitutionally independent from a Government’s control, could be used to more effectively govern how data is owned and handled, and with strong powers to intervene to minimize risks to civil liberties.

8. Systematic destruction of nature

For Mauritius, the character of every town in Mauritius had been defined by a series of 100-year old urban forests and nature walkways (such as the drone video above taken of the Vandermeersch walkway in the town of Beau Bassin in 2017 that contained several rare species of colorful flowering trees).

These green areas had been carefully protected since before Mauritius’ independence and were part of the character and identity of the island.

The decision to build a tramway in Mauritius, bypassing any robust Economic or Environmental Impact Assessment (an early design presented in parliament had involved an elevated rail to prevent the destruction of nature, which morphed into a more destructive tramway without disclosure for how the significant change of scope for the project happened), had already proved unpopular. More questions surrounded the decision to award the contract to an Indian military contractor close to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, without a transparent procurement process, as reported in the local media of Mauritius. The contractor, Larsen & Toubro, had previously been banned for six months by the World Bank in 2013. They have since won a series of high profile construction contracts in Mauritius.

The forcible removal of several urban parks in the towns of Quatres Bornes and Beau Bassin has called significant anguish for the population and has been subject to protests that were ignored by the Government. The militarized police (Special Mobile Force) had to be deployed to cut down those trees. The Government then decided to forcibly demolish homes, which several lawyers have criticized the legality of.

Local protest groups at the time issued statements (such as on 3 April 2018) calling the actions a “massacre of nature” and decrying the “trampling of human rights,” of a major infrastructure project that did not contain transparent disclosures, consultation, or environmental assessments.

At the time, the Prime Minister described the protestors as “pseudo-defenders of the environment,” further inflaming the situation.

Some of the actions to remove these urban forests that contained 100 year old jacaranda trees were carried out at night and over the weekend, without any previous warning and to the outrage of the local population.

Almost immediately when part of the railway was opened, there have been deaths, amid worrying signs of poor planning and operations. This railway project was the most expensive infrastructure project in Mauritius’ history (due to the gradient at which the train would need to climb), and funded by Mauritian taxpayers to support a loan arrangement from India. It also provided the justification for the expansion of power plants in Mauritius, which eventually unraveled with a corruption case involving the African Development Bank and a Mitsui E&S subsidiary, BWSC over the $120 million St Louis Power Plant. Mitsui OSK Lines (MOL) was the shipping company of the Wakashio that caused the oil spill in August, and which shares the same Japanese parent company, Mitsui & Co, as the contractors of the power station. Letters from the media in Mauritius had even called on U.S. Treasury Secretary, Steven Mnuchin, to investigate seven key aspects of this transaction, given the U.S. holds a Board Seat on the African Development Bank.

Is Mauritius still a democracy?

The infringements on human rights and civil liberties raise even more serious questions about whether democracy has been suspended in Mauritius.

The appointment of a controversial Speaker of Mauritius’ parliament by the Prime Minister has hollowed out the institution. Of greatest concern has been the actions of the Speaker of the house to suspend parliament for much of 2020, alter questions by opposition members to the Prime Minister in parliament, and eject opposition members from parliament.

Suspension of Mauritius’ Parliament

One of the most concerning democracy developments has been the continuous suspension of Mauritius’ parliament in 2020, which has been called illegal by leaders of the opposition parties. The Government used COVID-19 rules, the Wakashio oil spill State of Emergency and a three month suspension at the end of the year to restrict parliamentary sessions and democratic oversight. Over the past twelve months, opposition members only had 12 sessions (of up to 12 hours each) in the entire year in which to ask questions to the Government and Prime Minister. So while there were 36 parliamentary sessions in total throughout the year, questions can only be asked on a Tuesday, meaning that of 52 weeks available throughout the year, only 12 days could be used for questions in parliament. This was by far the lowest amount of democratic scrutiny in Mauritius’ history since independence.

Even written questions, which are to be submitted when time for debate has expired, were left unanswered. Under parliamentary rules, all questions must be answered, yet 160 questions remained unanswered last year (another record), and included several big topics such as the oil spill, public procurement, the economy and crime. Parliament is set to resume on 23 March 2021.

Speaker edited questions in Parliament

One of the highest profile examples of interference in the democratic process was seen when the Speaker of parliament intervened to alter a question on November 10 that had been asked by the Leader of the Opposition to the Prime Minister. It is unprecedented for questions to be altered in such a way that significantly alters the substance of the question. This intervention caused outrage in the country and was widely discussed in the local media whether such an action was legal. The proceedings from parliament in Mauritius are televised and this incident can be viewed in the 4 minute video above.

Ejecting Opposition Members from Parliament

Another unprecedented tactic has also been observed. For the first time in Mauritius’ history, elected members of parliament from the opposition are regularly being thrown out of the chambers of parliament.

Over the course of 2020, of the 12 sessions in which questions could be asked, 8 opposition were ejected from parliament, with the leader of the opposition banned from 7 sessions himself, and all 28 opposition MPs ejected from one sitting of the 70 members of parliament. A legal case by opposition MPs has described the “irrational and abusive behavior of the speaker,” and itemizes how disruptive and undemocratic his actions have been. The 28 opposition MPs had 12 sessions in which to ask questions (336 in total), yet were suspended from 59 of these individual sessions (almost 20%). This is in contrast to only 1 member of parliament being suspended from the Government benches for one session, raising questions about the impartiality of the speaker.

Arbitrary legal cases filed against opposition politicians

Members of parliament asking challenging questions of the Government have also been targeted with a series of legal prosecutions filed against opposition Members of Parliament.

The Leader of the Opposition was targeted on December 8 in a prosecution against his deceased father and an unwritten will, after a series of questions about the purchase of a property by the Prime Minister. These legal cases are largely viewed as threats and harassment of opposition members of parliament, and a pathway for the Government to avoid answering important questions in parliament.

Understanding the issues with the 2019 election

There have been fears that such a comprehensive hollowing of democratic institutions and the checks and balances in Mauritius without the strong oversight and intervention of multilateral organizations, could only have been possible with the involvement of large and dedicated foreign interference.

The seeds would have been sown in 2014 with the election of the current Prime Minster’s father.

The Prime Minister, Pravind Jugnauth, had never previously been elected as leader. In 2003, his father, Anerood Jugnauth - who had a long career in politics - had resigned as Prime Minister and appointed his son as successor without an election. His son then lost the 2005 general elections.

He was subsequently elected to parliament and was nominated as Minister of Finance in 2010, but resigned the following year following an inquiry into the procurement of a hospital.

In 2014, his father had come out of retirement to contest the general elections again at the age of 84. He announced in September 2016 that he would be stepping down in January 2017, and appointing his son as Prime Minister in a replica of the 2003 decision. Coalition parties believed there should have been a leadership election to select a successor, and as a result, the largest coalition party resigned from the Government to the opposition benches. Around the same time, there had also been attempts to change the Constitution of Mauritius to reduce judicial scrutiny following a series of high profile legal cases. In Mauritius, changing the constitution is only possible with the support of 75% of parliament, which the resignation of the coalition party to the opposition benches then made impossible.

The 2014 election was notable for its extensive use of Facebook memes in the campaign (called ‘Vire Mam,’ meaning ‘turn around people’ and which went viral on YouTube), the same year that Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected and just two years before Facebook campaigns led to the rise of nationalist movements with the Trump Presidency and Brexit. Four years later, the Cambridge Analytica scandal was to break over the improper use of Facebook data, showing similar campaigns around the world such as in Trinidad and Tobago in 2010 (as seen in the 3 minute excerpt from the Netflix documentary ‘The Great Hack’ below).

The 2019 election was fought with that context - an incumbent with a rapidly dwindling majority but with control over the state apparatus.

Alleged irregularities with Mauritius 2019 election

There had already been large protests in Mauritius following the election in November 2019 claiming serious alleged deficiencies with the election, and calling for greater transparency.

Journalists and commentators have since highlighted specific alleged irregularities in the 2019 election which were reported on by election observers from the African Union, and messages had been passed to French President, Emmanuel Macron about these issues.

Following electoral dispute guidelines, the former Prime Minister, Dr Navin Ramgoolam, had filed a legal case on 28 November 2019 within a month of the 7 November 2019 election, detailing a list of alleged serious deficiencies with the election that have still not been reviewed by a judge in Mauritius over a year since the election.

Democracy advocate, Dev Sunassy, who runs the citizen engagement platform 100% Citoyens, explained 15 important issues that still awaiting review by the judiciary in Mauritius. Several of these issues were also listed in the legal case filed by the former Prime Minister, that is still awaiting a hearing.

Sunassy explains the fifteen concerns.

“1. Exceeding Electoral Spending. Electoral law in Mauritius has spending limits of $10,000 (369,000 Mauritian Rupees) which all three political candidates in each party of each constituency must stick to. Evidence being released associated with the death of the political activist is starting to reveal that spending by the winning party was at least double what was permitted.

2. Irregular printing of ballot papers. The legal case makes allegations that this was not done on the premises of the Government Printing Offices but at the location of a private company (page 26).

3. Inability to account for ballot papers. Elections require robust tracking of the number of ballot papers in each voting booth to prevent fraud.  The legal case makes allegations that this was not carried out, and political parties have been unable to reconcile the number of ballot papers in each polling booth with the final numbers of votes cast compared with unused and spoilt ballot papers (page 17).

4. Dead voters appearing on the electoral roll.  The legal case makes allegations that specific examples of impersonation of dead voters were given in the former Prime Minister’s legal filing (page 17).

5. Weak voter identification. Rather than robust verification of voter identity (such as using biometric national identity cards), there was evidence that less secure bus passes were allowed to be used as identification for voters, increasing the risk of fraud.

6. Use of foreign (especially Indian) voters in the election. The Mauritian constitution allows Commonwealth Citizens to vote (after two years presence in Mauritius), but prevents the Mauritian diaspora from voting. It seems that an unusually high numbers of these foreigners voted, especially low skilled Indian workers involved with large scale infrastructure projects that had only recently begun in the country. No statistics or post-analysis of foreign voters per constituency were published.

Further concerns have since been raised about the security of Mauritian passports as forms of identification following an investor scheme designed to make it easier to obtain Mauritian passports and the former Commission of Police being formally charged with obtaining a Mauritian passport for an individual suspected of drug offences according to national newspaper L’Express, revealing how easy it was to breach passport security protocols that used to be kept at arms length from political influence. A police investigation in September further exposed a criminal ring selling fake Mauritian passports to foreigners that involved several African football players.

7. Almost 7000 voters were removed from the electoral roll. The Mauritian Electoral Commission has revealed that 6813 voters were unable to vote. Some claim their names were removed from the electoral role without any prior warning. This was also highlighted by African Union election observers. These numbers were higher in the marginal constituencies where their votes would have made the difference in the electoral outcome (for example a margin of victory by the Government candidate of 49 votes in Constituency 15 saw 486 voters removed from the voter list, similarly in Constituency 14 where the victory margin was 185 and 617 voters were removed, and Constituency 16 where the victory margin was 162 and 502 voters were removed).

8. Suspicious ‘surge’ of voting in final 30 minutes. During the voting count, the Mauritius Electoral Commission announced there had been 725,236 voters in the election, yet in the final 30 minutes of the vote the previous day, only 417,737 had turned out. This means that in the final 30 minutes of voting, over 300,000 people would have been expected to vote, one third of the electorate.  This is highly unusual compared with previous elections, especially as the election day (7 November 2019) was counted as a holiday to permit a more even and orderly flow at the ballot stations throughout the day. Traffic patterns and footage at ballot stations did not indicate such numbers, which would have clogged the country’s infrastructure.

8. Irregular transportation of ballot papers to counting centers after the vote. At the conclusion of the vote, there is usually a police escort to accompany the ballot papers from polling stations to the counting stations set up in schools across the country for the count to begin the next day.  The legal case makes allegations that such a police escort did not occur and there have been fears of ballot box tampering and risks of exchanges along the journey to the polling station (page 18).

9. The previously undisclosed use of a Voting Computer.  The legal case makes allegations that on the day of the ballot count (the day following the election), a previously undisclosed voting computer system was used to tally the vote in separate computer rooms across all counting stations in the country.  The legal case goes on to make allegations that this computer system had been installed by a Government owned computing company and had not previously been disclosed. This was a significant deviation from all previous elections in Mauritius.  The legal case makes allegations that no election observers from the opposition parties were granted access to the computer room where votes were being counted, and serious process deficiencies were claimed in how the totals were calculated (page 20).

10. Unsealed ballot boxes. At the count the following day, the legal case makes allegations that the start of the count was delayed by five and a half hours from 8am to 1.30pm (page 18). The filed documents made further allegations that several ballot boxes had been discovered unsealed (page 21).  The case also claims that there were serious security lapses in the surveillance of the ballots during the count, with gaps in the counting that could have allowed for tampering (page 22).

11. Accusation of ‘ballot box stuffing.’ During the counting, there were allegations that several irregularities were identified with the ballot papers. In a voting booth, votes are usually folded and messily placed inside a small slot in a ballot box to maintain privacy.  Yet when the voting boxes were opened the following day, there were allegations that several ballot boxes revealed voting papers that were neatly stacked up inside. The electoral commissioner explained this was due to the use of a metal ruler to organize the ballot papers before the box was opened, which was widely ridiculed by opposition parties and the media as not being a credible explanation.

12. Number of votes were higher than the number of voters. Several candidates have revealed that in at least three constituencies, the total number of votes exceeded the number of voters. Candidates then identified irregularities with the way the Electoral Commission of Mauritius subsequently readjusted its figures to reconcile figures with votes already announced. This triggered another legal case against the outcome of the entire election.

13. Ballot papers found outside of voting centers. Ballot papers are usually kept secure in polling stations during an election and discarded securely (in a way similar to how banknotes are destroyed when out of circulation). However, in the days following the election, there were instances across the country where bundles of ballot papers were discovered outside of secure polling centers, and where electoral officials admitted taking ballot boxes home. Some of these appeared to be dumped in forested areas. These ballot papers were handed to priests, journalists and members of parliament, and several revealed the discarded ballot papers all contained votes cast for opposition parties. There has not yet been an explanation for how these ballot papers ended up outside of polling stations.

14. Calls for a recount rejected. With such a high number of voting irregularities and close voting outcome (by fewer than 100 votes in certain marginal constituencies), a recount would usually be pursued in these constituencies. However, the legal case makes allegations that the Electoral Commission refused to authorize a recount in key marginal constituencies where the alleged voting irregularities were highest, despite the protest of candidates (page 24).

15. Use of state media to influence the electoral outcome. The use of the state television station, Mauritius Broadcasting Corporation (MBC) as a tool by the ruling Prime Minister of the day is a practice that has long been criticized. MBC has a monopoly on local TV news, especially in rural locations, and the population has to pay a compulsory $50 a year (150 Mauritian Rupees a month) fee. The use of MBC to influence the electoral outcome was highlighted on page 12 of the legal case and also by African Union election observers.”

African Union observers refused to say Mauritius 2019 elections were ‘free and fair’

A team of election observers from the African Union led by the former Vice President of Uganda, Dr. Speciosa Kazibwe Wandira expressed their concerns about the election. Most telling, they did not describe the election as ‘free and fair,’ as was said in the previous 2014 general election.

Instead, they used more prosaic language around the ‘peaceful conduct’ of the voting and called for disputes in the election to be resolved legally and peacefully.

At the same press conference on 9 November 2020, there had been protests and expulsions, with Mauritian activist Jeff Lingaya shouting to the African Union observers as he was led away, “You do not represent the Mauritius that we have been able to see during these last days.

The main findings of The African Union Election Observation Mission included the following statements on 9 November 2019:

  • “The mission noted some concerns by local stakeholders, with the inequitable coverage of all political parties by the state media.”
  • “Voters were turned away in 4% of the voting rooms visited due to voter identification issues. The Mission also noted that some citizens were disenfranchised, because they could not find their names on the Voters’ Roll.”

  • “All the polling stations observed by the AU observers closed at the legal closing time at 18H00 for Mauritius and 17H00 for Rodrigues. The Mission noted the peaceful and calm atmosphere at the time of closing. There were no queues observed at closing and security personnel were professional and discreet.” This would not have been the case had 300,000 voters turned up in the final 30 minutes of the vote as Mauritius’ Electoral Commission figures imply.

  • “The Mission also noted that the counting process did not allow political party agents to raise their concerns regarding the procedure as per international best practice (they were not able to check the seals and counter-check the counting of ballot papers).” This is a particularly serious observation.
  • “The AU calls on political parties, candidates and the people of Mauritius to preserve peace in the country and resort to legal means in case of any disputes arising from the elections.”

Such statements could not have been further from African Union election observation missions in previous years. Just looking at the language from 2014 can reveal this.

  • The Mission “concludes that the National Assembly Elections held in Mauritius on 10 December 2014 were peaceful, transparent, free and fair, and credible, thus reflecting the will of the people of Mauritius.”
  • The Mission “further congratulates the Electoral Management Bodies for the professional and transparent manner in which they conducted the elections.”

There have also been growing suspicions that there was organized foreign interference in the 2019 election in Mauritius, undermining Mauritius’ own democratic processes.

The African Union and SADC have been approached for comments, but have not yet responded.

Was there foreign interference in Mauritius?

While electioneering is usually a boisterous affair in most countries (just look at the U.S. and U.K. over the past four years), what happened in Mauritius appears to bear the signature of something more sinister than just domestic political intrigue.

Two countries have grown in prominence in Mauritius under the Jugnauth Government.

Japan

Concerns over Japan’s role in Mauritius has been addressed in a previous article published on Forbes on 11 December 2020. Since 2017, Japan has opened an embassy, significantly expanded its fishing presence in the country, and signed a series of opaque aid deals that the Japanese Government refuses to disclose details of. The Wakashio oil spill and corruption scandal with the St Louis Power Plant have shone the light further on how rapidly Japan appears to have developed a strong interest in Mauritius.

Efforts to cover up the Wakashio oil spill raises even further concerns that Japan’s foreign policy under Japanese Prime Minster Abe has been seeking to support more authoritarian Governments around the world, and pursue a more extractive and pro-fossil fuel agenda that large businesses close to the Japanese Government had been advocating for.

MORE FROM FORBESThe Rise And Fall Of Japan Over The Deadly Mauritius Oil Spill

The Japanese Government’s offer of a $300 million loan to the Jugnauth Government for the oil spill by the Japanese bulk carrier, rather than pursuing a transparent insurance claim has raised suspicions amid the discovery that the Wakashio was carrying faulty fuel on board. The attempts to place Mauritius under a large foreign debt obligation to Japan over an oil spill caused by the Japanese bulk carrier is akin to an act of ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’ that Japan has accused China of. The question was whether Japan had interfered before, in the 2019 election, given the favorable treatment being received by the Jugnauth Government.

Japanese Foreign Minister Toshimitsu Motegi’s, refusal to meet with the communities most impacted by the oil spill has ended up backfiring on Japan’s diplomatic efforts, which have failed to recognize how close-knit the Mauritian community is over the environment.

India

The relationship with India is even more troubling. Since the Jugnauth Government came to power in 2015, several large infrastructure contracts were awarded to businessmen close to Indian Prime Minister Modi. These contracts were not subject to the same procurement standards, parliamentary oversight or Environmental Impact Assessments that all projects in Mauritius should be subject to. And yet, these were some of the biggest infrastructure projects ever commissioned in the country.

Many have since turned out to be white elephants, such as large sports complexes that are unusable, oil pipelines that leak or expensive coastguard protection loan arrangement that could not detect a large bulk carrier was heading straight for Mauritius ($220 million Project Trident). This fuel was subsequently found to have been supplied by BP amid a growing ship-fuel scandal, that instiutions in Mauritius were hampered into fully investigating.

As a result of lower procurement standards without parliamentary oversight, many of Mauritius’ historic trees, parkland and urban forests were cut down in the past five years as large contractors from India rushed to build an expensive tram system, a new Supreme Court building, a new headquarters for the Indian-run Mauritian Coastguard, as well as a series of housing and hotel developments in areas that should have been set aside as nature reserves.

These were not gifts from India, but contracts awarded under opaque loan agreement schemes that Mauritian taxpayers will eventually have to pay for and with questionable benefits to an island nation that relies on its rare biodiversity to attract tourists. Such large contracts to Indian contractors had never been awarded in Mauritius’ history before, and the financial and political stakes were clearly high for India to ensure a Jugnauth Government returned to power in 2019.

Amid domestic economic challenges in India even before the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Modi nevertheless offered Mauritius a $300 million loan on 9 November 2020 , in addition to over $350 million loans for strategic projects that were won solely by Indian contractors. Such large soft loans by India, without human rights or environmental conditions attached, is called ‘Debt Trap Diplomacy’ and is priming the ground for even further economic mismanagement in Mauritius since India started to extend its grip over the Indian Ocean island.

Mauritius’ economic collapse masked by COVID-19

The human rights and civil rights collapse in the country comes on top of the economic collapse the country has been facing and that had been masked by COVID-19.

This economic collapse is most notably marked by:

  • Economic mismanagement during COVID-19 has seen Mauritius go from the best performing countries in Africa a decade ago, weathering the global financial crisis and Eurozone crisis with credit upgrades and rising 20 positions in the Global Competitiveness Index, to becoming one of the worst performing countries in Sub-Saharan Africa.
  • The transfer of over $2 billion of Mauritius’ national reserves from the Central Bank to a private corporation without any parliamentary scrutiny. This measure has been described as one of the biggest sources of risks and corruption in the country’s history. It follows a series of procurement scandals for COVID-19 protection equipment that are now being investigated by anti-corruption authorities.
  • Mauritius was placed on the European Union’s blacklist for money-laundering and terrorist financing in October, after the Government failed to act for months to head off the EU decision.

This economic mismanagement is all pointing to a likely spike in inflation in the country and rapid decline in the value of the Mauritian Rupee in the near future as the global economy normalizes post-pandemic, later this year.

The question is what role can multilateral institutions play (such as the IMF, World Bank, United Nations, African Union and European Union) to co-ordinate an international response and prevent the destabilization of the country and the region.

Mauritius’ economic growth was slipping

Mauritius is facing a sharply deteriorating economic crisis. The true extent was only revealed in recent reports by the World Bank, the IMF, local financial firms and in statements by the Mauritian Finance Minister on October 23. They place Mauritius as one of Africa’s worst performers during the COVID-19 lockdowns, with credit rating agency Moody’s already warning investors by downgrading Mauritius’ credit rating outlook from ‘Stable’ to ‘Negative’ in April. Moody’s next update to the hard-fought Baa rating will be eagerly watched.

The Wakashio oil spill in August nudged Mauritius over the economic cliff, creating a macroeconomic impact on the economy with the $15 billion island economy expected to shrink by $2.1 billion in 2020, $500 million worse than expected since June (14.2% decline relative to 11% decline in June according to the IMF and the Mauritius Commercial Bank). As seen from the World Bank image above, Mauritius has seen the sharpest decline in GDP relative to comparable tourism-dependent countries like Seychelles and Rwanda, and has been forced to liquidate its national airline, Air Mauritius, until recently the fourth largest African airline. All economic sectors have suffered, with industrial production plunging over 40% compared to last year according to the World Bank in its October 2020 Africa Pulse economic outlook.

Mauritius’ economic growth rate also become structurally weaker over the course of 2020, being the only comparable country in Sub-Saharan Africa to have a negative Q1 and even weaker Q2 in 2020 - by far the weakest in Africa and double that of Seychelles’ decline (image above). Tourism accounts for 23.8% of Mauritius’ GDP, when supporting businesses such as holiday car rentals, restaurants and informal beach hawkers are taken into account, which is 22% of the country’s employment and 35% of its exports and all-important foreign currency earnings.

The growth in Mauritius’ debt was the third worst across 55 African countries during the coronavirus pandemic, according to the World Bank (image above). However, the IMF believe the figures to be even worse than stated by the Government with the Budget Deficit being as high as 11.7% of GDP according to the IMF’s World Economic Outlook of October 2020 (table B9 of the Statistical Appendix).

Depletion of Central Bank’s reserves

The discrepancy in how serious Mauritius’ debt situation is claimed to be by the Government compared with what international organizations are seeing, is due to a highly controversial measure taken by the Government of Mauritius in May to deplete $2 billion of reserves (13% of GDP) from the Central Bank. These funds are being used to balance the budget and support several large business interests in Mauritius. They were transferred into a private company called Mauritius Investment Corporation (MIC).

The decision to deplete the reserves of the Central Bank earned the Government a rebuke from the IMF, which called it a measure of ‘last resort,’ and also challenged the independence of the economic statistics being produced by the Government.

These measures come as Mauritius’ state-backed national airline, Air Mauritius which was the fourth largest airline in Africa, was placed into administration earlier last year and is now selling several of its large Airbus aircraft. Again, there has not been transparency of the terms of such deals, for such a high profile, national company.

Parallels between Malaysia’s 1MDB and MIC in Mauritius

The lack of oversight with how Mauritius has transferred over $2 billion of national reserves to a private company has increased the risks of corruption and abuse of power, according to opposition party leaders in Mauritius.

The national reserves of $2.1 billion (83 billion Mauritian Rupees) were transferred to Mauritius Investment Corporation in May 2020, a state-owned private company with fewer restrictions than if the funds were held in the Central Bank, as required constitutionally. There has been no transparency on the disbursement of the funds, and the Minister of Finance has refused to answer questions about MIC in parliament, citing corporate secrecy laws. Opposition Leaders and former Ministers of Finance has described the opacity and lack of accountability to parliament of public funds as one of the biggest risks of abuse and corruption in the country’s history.

The funds have been used to support large businesses in Mauritius that work closely with the Government, such as several large hotel chains. Bloomberg has reported that three large hotel chains have so far received $250 million from the MIC already. There were no conditions on employment of staff or sustainability measures attached to this funding.

This has raised inevitable comparisons with developments in Malaysia a decade ago.

Malaysia’s 1MDB scandal

In 2009, the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Najib Razak, created a $12 billion state-run economic development fund, called 1 Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB) to focus on strategic long term investments for the country.

In 2015, there were charges of misappropriation of funds through the transfer of $700 million to accounts controlled by associates of the former Prime Minister, including being linked to the funding of the 2013 Hollywood blockbuster, Wolf of Wall Street.

The film’s star and Oscar-winning actor, Leonardo DiCaprio released a statement in 2016 saying that he will return any proceeds connected to the Malaysian wealth fund, pending a fraud investigation of that fund by the U.S. and other countries. “Both Mr DiCaprio and [the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation] continue to be entirely supportive of all efforts to assure that justice is done in this matter,” the statement said. “Mr DiCaprio is grateful for the lead and instruction of the government on how to accomplish this.”

In 2018, the studio behind the film agreed to pay the U.S. Government $60 million to settle a civil lawsuit brought against it.

The 1MDB fund was wholly owned under the Ministry of Finance and had engaged Wall Street giant, Goldman Sachs, to help structure its debt in return for substantial fees.

In October 2020, Goldman Sachs settled for almost $3 billion with U.S. regulators over their involvement in the 1MDB corruption scandal.

On 28 July 2020, two years after leaving office, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia was sentenced to 12 years in jail for corruption offenses linked to the 1MDB scandal.

Deafening silence of the private sector

One of the strengths of Mauritius throughout challenging times has been a robust private sector. Businesses in Mauritius have links to some of the most powerful hotel brands, manufacturing supply chains, and international corporations around the world who are structured in the country. While many companies may not wish to take politically partisan sides, the erosion of basic human and civil rights in the country has a clear macroeconomic impact on the standing of the country.

Yet, during the erosion of human and civil liberties in the country, there has been silence from most senior executives and shareholders of these businesses that operate in the $15 billion a year economy.

The historic lack of investment by the private sector into independent civil society organizations that advocate for human and civil rights, as well as those that support and enhance robust and more effective public institutions in the country, is seen as an explanatory factor for how Mauritius’ previously independent institutions were allowed to collapse so rapidly.

Until now, it has been the environmental protestors, social activists, trade unions, journalists, opposition members of parliament, public institutions who have taken the greatest risks and have been targeted in the clampdown on human and civil rights. The private sector have largely kept silent.

As has been seen in the collapse of democracies around the world - the economy soon follows the direction of civil rights. One only needs to look at the rapid descent of Zimbabwe - once one of the strongest economies in Africa - under President Robert Mugabe, or the descent of Venezuela, which was the world’s largest proven oil reserves, under President Hugo Chavez. Even the rise of Fidel Castro in Cuba has undertones of what is being seen in Mauritius.

A silent private sector has set off a ticking timer where it inevitably becomes a target.

Addressing the root cause that led to the fall of Mauritius

The question for the current torchbearers of international human and civil rights, and the rule of law in the world, the European Union and the incoming United States administration, is to understand the root cause of Mauritius’ decline and assess how systematic these patterns are across other previously stable countries around the world.

Three major risks that have global security implications appear to be born out from Mauritius, that are affecting human and civil rights around the world:

  • First, the growth of unregulated social media and technology. Platforms such as Facebook, that have operated without effective oversight are not just a risk to their users, but their products are creating broader societal risks by de-stabilizing democracies and institutions around the world. Stronger regulation is urgently required, both nationally and internationally.

  • Second, the hollowing of multilateral institutions. The current UN system is no longer geared up to address the challenges in the world and maintain global security - a core part of its mandate. Indeed, certain U.N. Agencies are now widely seen as acting in corporate and other vested interests than defending citizens rights that they were formed to safeguard in the first place. The sophistication of risk facing countries like Mauritius with authoritarian Governments who are prepared to incite racial division, require new tools and smarter ways to intervene. A clearer early warning indicator is needed for countries on the brink that uses a much broader range of indicators and can detect cyber-interference. The events on the U.S. capitol last week show just how fragile democracy is, and susceptible to manipulation online.

  • Third, with Mauritius, there appears to be worrying signs of foreign interference. This foreign interference has magnified the situation beyond anything previously anticipated, and presents significant risks to stability in the region. It is clear that the intervention in Mauritius reflection broader geopolitical trends that could be destabilizing entire regions around the world.

Right now, the last line of defense between what remains of Mauritius’ democracy and the descent into autocracy is a free media and an independent judiciary.

With such overriding pressure from an authoritarian and unaccountable Government, it remains a question whether they can both hold out.

2021 will be the year that the fate of Mauritius is decided. It is the canary in the coal mine for how the post-Trump world order will be defined.