Post by Stallit 2 de Halfo on Aug 6, 2008 21:27:04 GMT
Troops stage coup in Mauritania
Troops in Mauritania have overthrown the country's first freely-elected government and say they have formed a state council to rule the country.
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was held - along with Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed El-Ouakef - after he sacked several senior army officers.
Soldiers have been seen on the streets of the capital, Nouakchott, but there have been no reports of fighting.
The country held free and fair polls in June 2007, two years after a coup.
The country has been gripped by political crisis for a fortnight, after a vote of no confidence in the cabinet.
On Monday, 48 MPs walked out of the ruling party.
Reports suggest some of the generals orchestrated the mass resignation, our correspondent James Copnall says.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Abdallahi replaced several senior army officers, including the head of the presidential guard, Gen Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz.
Shortly afterwards, Gen Abdelaziz led soldiers in a coup, against the president.
Unusual troop movements
Culture Minister Abdellahi Salem Ould El-Mouallah read out a statement on television on behalf of the coup leaders.
"The State Council, headed by Gen Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, declares that the decree by which the former president had dismissed the chief of staff of the national army, the chief of the special presidential staff, the chief of the national gendarmes and the chief of the national guards, is annulled legally and practically," he said.
The first indications of a military coup came as state radio and television was taken off the air amid reports of unusual troop movements in Nouakchott.
Then the military rounded up the president and prime minister apparently without needing to use force.
The president's daughter, Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, said soldiers seized her father at his house at 0920 local time (0920 GMT).
She raised the alarm in a phone call to a French radio station.
"The president has just been arrested - five minutes ago - by members of the presidential security battalion, on the orders of Gen Abdelaziz," she told Radio France International.
"They came here to find him. They arrested him here and took him to the battalion base. It's a textbook coup d'etat."
Political instability
Mauritania has been described as a long succession of coups, with the military involved in nearly every government since Mauritania's independence from France.
Presidential elections held in 2007 ended a two-year period of military rule - the product of a military coup in 2005.
The elections were deemed to have been free and fair and appeared to herald a new era of democracy.
Earlier this year, however, the president dismissed the government amid protests over soaring food prices.
The cabinet that replaced it has been dogged by instability, lacking the support of a moderate Islamist party and a major opposition group that were in the former government.
Mauritania is one of the world's poorest nations as well as its newest oil producer.
The desert nation, a former French colony of more than three million people, has been looking to oil revenues to boost its economy.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7544834.stm
Published: 2008/08/06 14:25:27 GMT
Mauritania forces 'stage coup'
Reuters
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Presidential guardsmen seized Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in a coup today after he sacked several top army officers, the president's daughter said.
Soldiers gathered at the presidential palace after Abdallahi replaced senior army officers during a political crisis in the northwest African country that is one of the continent's newest oil producers. Abdallahi won elections last year and took over from a military junta that had ruled since it toppled President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup in 2005.
"The security agents of the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion) came to our home around 9.20 (0920 GMT) and took away my father," Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, the president's daughter, told Reuters.
A presidency official who declined to be named said the president, prime minister and interior minister had been arrested and taken to an unknown destination.
In a decree published earlier today by the national news agency, Abdallahi sacked army chief of staff General Mohamed Ould Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Ghazouani and presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz.
A security source in the capital Nouakchott told Reuters Abdelaziz was leading the coup. Gulf-based Arabic television news channel al-Arabiya reported that both he and Ghazouani were involved.
The head of the Gendarmerie paramilitary police force was also replaced in the decree. Shortly afterwards state radio and television stations went off the air.
Largely desert Mauritania, a former French colony of more than 3 million people, straddles black and Arab Africa.
Abdallahi replaced one government in May following criticism over the government's response to soaring food prices and to attacks over the last year carried out by al-Qa'ida's north African arm.
But the new government resigned last month in the face of a proposed no-confidence vote.
A new one was formed but without the opposition Union of Forces for Progress (UFP) and Islamist Tawassoul parties which had formed part of the previous government.
This week most of the members of parliament belonging to Abdallahi's PNDD-ADIL party walked out from the party en masse, in a move some political sources said were supported by senior military officials.
Troops in Mauritania have overthrown the country's first freely-elected government and say they have formed a state council to rule the country.
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was held - along with Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed El-Ouakef - after he sacked several senior army officers.
Soldiers have been seen on the streets of the capital, Nouakchott, but there have been no reports of fighting.
The country held free and fair polls in June 2007, two years after a coup.
The country has been gripped by political crisis for a fortnight, after a vote of no confidence in the cabinet.
On Monday, 48 MPs walked out of the ruling party.
Reports suggest some of the generals orchestrated the mass resignation, our correspondent James Copnall says.
Earlier on Wednesday, President Abdallahi replaced several senior army officers, including the head of the presidential guard, Gen Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz.
Shortly afterwards, Gen Abdelaziz led soldiers in a coup, against the president.
Unusual troop movements
Culture Minister Abdellahi Salem Ould El-Mouallah read out a statement on television on behalf of the coup leaders.
"The State Council, headed by Gen Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, declares that the decree by which the former president had dismissed the chief of staff of the national army, the chief of the special presidential staff, the chief of the national gendarmes and the chief of the national guards, is annulled legally and practically," he said.
The first indications of a military coup came as state radio and television was taken off the air amid reports of unusual troop movements in Nouakchott.
Then the military rounded up the president and prime minister apparently without needing to use force.
The president's daughter, Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, said soldiers seized her father at his house at 0920 local time (0920 GMT).
She raised the alarm in a phone call to a French radio station.
"The president has just been arrested - five minutes ago - by members of the presidential security battalion, on the orders of Gen Abdelaziz," she told Radio France International.
"They came here to find him. They arrested him here and took him to the battalion base. It's a textbook coup d'etat."
Political instability
Mauritania has been described as a long succession of coups, with the military involved in nearly every government since Mauritania's independence from France.
Presidential elections held in 2007 ended a two-year period of military rule - the product of a military coup in 2005.
The elections were deemed to have been free and fair and appeared to herald a new era of democracy.
Earlier this year, however, the president dismissed the government amid protests over soaring food prices.
The cabinet that replaced it has been dogged by instability, lacking the support of a moderate Islamist party and a major opposition group that were in the former government.
Mauritania is one of the world's poorest nations as well as its newest oil producer.
The desert nation, a former French colony of more than three million people, has been looking to oil revenues to boost its economy.
Story from BBC NEWS:
news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/7544834.stm
Published: 2008/08/06 14:25:27 GMT
Mauritania forces 'stage coup'
Reuters
Wednesday, 6 August 2008
Presidential guardsmen seized Mauritanian President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in a coup today after he sacked several top army officers, the president's daughter said.
Soldiers gathered at the presidential palace after Abdallahi replaced senior army officers during a political crisis in the northwest African country that is one of the continent's newest oil producers. Abdallahi won elections last year and took over from a military junta that had ruled since it toppled President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup in 2005.
"The security agents of the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion) came to our home around 9.20 (0920 GMT) and took away my father," Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, the president's daughter, told Reuters.
A presidency official who declined to be named said the president, prime minister and interior minister had been arrested and taken to an unknown destination.
In a decree published earlier today by the national news agency, Abdallahi sacked army chief of staff General Mohamed Ould Cheikh Mohamed Ahmed Ghazouani and presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz.
A security source in the capital Nouakchott told Reuters Abdelaziz was leading the coup. Gulf-based Arabic television news channel al-Arabiya reported that both he and Ghazouani were involved.
The head of the Gendarmerie paramilitary police force was also replaced in the decree. Shortly afterwards state radio and television stations went off the air.
Largely desert Mauritania, a former French colony of more than 3 million people, straddles black and Arab Africa.
Abdallahi replaced one government in May following criticism over the government's response to soaring food prices and to attacks over the last year carried out by al-Qa'ida's north African arm.
But the new government resigned last month in the face of a proposed no-confidence vote.
A new one was formed but without the opposition Union of Forces for Progress (UFP) and Islamist Tawassoul parties which had formed part of the previous government.
This week most of the members of parliament belonging to Abdallahi's PNDD-ADIL party walked out from the party en masse, in a move some political sources said were supported by senior military officials.