Coup in Mauritania as president, PM arrested

[pkpatriotic]

Coup in Mauritania as president, PM arrested
NOUAKCHOTT: Troops staged a coup in the West African nation of Mauritania on Wednesday, arresting the President and Prime Minister and shutting down state radio and television, security sources said.

Troops moved through the capital and detained President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf after the President named a new head of the army, security sources and witnesses said.

They chased staff away from the state broadcaster and surrounded the Presidency though there was no sign of fighting.

The President's whereabouts were unknown, while the Prime Minister had been taken to an army barracks near the Presidency, security sources said.

The capital of the nation of 3.1 million people was reported to be calm, with little evidence of the turmoil, witnesses said, though troops had surrounded the Presidency and the state broadcaster.

Mauritania has been facing a political crisis and on Monday 48 MPs walked out on the ruling party less than two weeks after a vote of no confidence in the government prompted a cabinet reshuffle.

The coup was apparently triggered when Abdallahi moved to replace generals accused of stirring up the political crisis.

 

[pkpatriotic]

Diplomatic pressure mounts to resolve Mauritanian coup
Updated at: 2240 PST, Wednesday, August 06, 2008
BRUSSELS: The military coup in Mauritania Wednesday triggered strong diplomatic reaction, with the EU threatening to cut off aid and two African organisations dispatching envoys to the troubled country.

The European Commission condemned the overthrow of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, saying it imperiled "the exemplary democratic advances" which the west African country has made in recent years.

It also jeopardised 156 million euros (241 million dollars) in additional aid for 2008-2013 that the European Union had been finalising with the Mauritanian government, EU Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel said.

The African Union issued a statement calling for "the restoration of constitutional legality" and said its peace and security commissioner, Ramtane Lamamra, would go to Mauritania to "assess the situation on the ground and assist in promoting a peaceful solution to the crisis."

Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi also sought diplomatic help for Mauritania through the Arab Maghreb Union of north African states, the official JANA news agency reported.

Libya currently holds the chairmanship of the AMU, of which Mauritania, a mainly desert country with a long history of military rule, is a member.

Kadhafi asked Habib Ben Yahia, a Tunisian former foreign minister, to "follow and supervise developments... and contact the various parties" in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott.

Troops overthrew the president on Wednesday in an apparently bloodless coup after he tried to sack senior army officers accused of being behind political events destabilising the country.

Other African nations were swift to denounce any change of government by force.

"South Africa, like the rest of the international community, has never countenanced the use of military coups to settle political issues," said foreign ministry spokesman Ronnie Mamoepa in a statement.

Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua said flatly his country would not recogise any change of power by "unconstitutional means" and expressed concern also for the west African region.