and the country of Senegal to the south. Its western coastline on the Atlantic Ocean is interrupted only by the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, which the region completely surrounds. Mauritania is mostly covered with desert, with only its western regions around the coast of Atlantic Ocean having some vegetation. There are some oasis in the desert regions. Since it is a desert, there are large shifting dunes forming temporary ranges. The average elevation is around above the mean sea level. The rainfall in the northern regions closer to the Tropic of Cancer receives around of annual rainfall compared to the southern portions that receives around . The average temperature is , while during the night it reaches . Due to the geography, the inhabitants historically, have been nomadic. In modern times, people have migrated to urban centres during the drought in 1970 and 1980. There are a few sedentary cultivators, who are located only in the southern regions of the country. Research has indicated that the Saharan movement has resulted in reduction of rains in the region from the 1960s, when it received close to of rainfall. Administration Trarza is divided into six departments, namely, Boutilimit, Keur Massene, Mederdra, Ouad Naga, R'Kiz and Rosso. The local administration is adopted from French local administration framework with a Ministry of Internal Control governing the local bodies. The original administration was held by governors of each district, but after the municipal elections in 1994, the powers has been decentralized from the district bodies. Mauritania has been divided into 13 wilayas (regions), including the Nouakchott Capital District. The smallest administrative division in the country is the commune and the country has 216 of them. A group of communes form a moughataa (department) and the group of moughataa form a district. There are total of 53 moughataa for the 13 districts in the country. The executive power of the district is vested on a district chief, while it is on hakem for moughataa. Out of the 216 communes, 53 classified as urban and rest 163 are rural. The communes are responsible for overseeing and coordinating development activities and are financed by the state. The local governments have their own legal jurisdiction, financial autonomy, an annual budget, staff, and an office. The elections for the local government are conducted every five years along with senate and parliamentary elections. On account of the political instability, the last elections