22/08/2008
Days after being released from custody by Mauritania's new military leaders, former Prime Minister Ahmed Yahya Ould El Waghev was arrested Thursday (August 21st) in Nouadhibou, APA reported. Several other members of the National Front for the Defence of Democracy (FNDD), a party which opposes the ruling military junta, were permitted to enter the city for a political meeting. According to AFP, the second arrest comes after El Waghev told Abu Dhabi TV Wednesday that ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi president fired the generals August 6th after learning that they were "preparing a coup to be carried out on August 9th". He also refused to recognise the nomination of Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghaf as his replacement by the junta.
In a press conference Thursday, FNDD party leaders strongly condemned El Waghev's arrest, stating that the country is moving toward a new phase of "arbitrariness and suppression", Mauritanian news agency ANI reported.