Mauritanian president, officials seized in military coup
2008-08-06
In an apparent coup d’etat Wednesday (August 5th), Mauritanian troops seized President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the prime minister and the interior minister, shut down radio and television operations and occupied government buildings, the international press reported.
"The security agents of the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion) came to our home around 9:20 am and took away my father," Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, the president's daughter, was quoted by Reuters as saying.
Government spokesman Abdoulaye Mamadouba reportedly told the AP that the president is being held at the presidential palace in Nouakchott, while a French interior ministry official was quoted by AFP as saying that "based on initial information, it seems that a group of generals are holding Prime Minister [Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf]".
Before the military takeover, Mauritania's national news agency AMI said the president had dismissed army chief of staff General Mohamed Ould Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Ghazouani and presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz. According to media reports, both men fired by the president were leading the coup.
Witnesses say troops are visible throughout Nouakchott but no violence has been reported.
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Soufi Med MBodj Posted 2008-08-08
I would like to ask our brothers in the Maghreb to help Mauritania to get over this. The Sidi regime sunk us into poverty and insecurity. Fortunately, our valiant armed forces came to liberate us from this regime, which hid behind democracy so as to use the old Ould Taya methods on us. Our brother Magharebis need to provide their assistance to our leaders so that the Mauritanian people will not suffer from sanctions from the West, which continues to view the people of the Third World as their servants. The countries of the Maghreb are rich enough that we can dispense with our former colonisers, who are doing everything in order to prevent us from developing. Ever since the World Bank and IMF came to impose their reorganisation plan on us, poverty has not stopped increasing in Africa. To the best of my knowledge, there has not been one country in Africa that was able to develop thanks to Western aid.
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