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Mauritanian Army Launches Coup
NOUAKCHOTT,
August 3, 2005 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Mauritanian
army troops, dominated by presidential guard members, took over
Wednesday, August 3, the armed forces headquarters, state radio and
television buildings in the capital Nouakchott in an apparent coup
d'etat.
The
troops had moved into the buildings at 5:00 am (0500 GMT) and blocked
off access to the presidential palace and government ministers, while
President Maaouyia Ould Taya was in Saudi Arabia for the funeral of
King Fahd, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP), citing its reporter in
the northwestern African country.
Taya
is said to have arrived in Niger's capital Niamey but it has not been
confirmed yet, according to Al-Jazeera.
"We
have heard that there has been a coup d'etat but we don't know who's
involved. We don't know whether it is something that has succeeded or
failed," Sid Ahmed Abeidna, the British honorary consul in
Nouakchott, told Reuters.
Military
vehicles equipped with heavy weaponry and anti-aircraft guns took up
positions on the capital’s streets.
All
state media broadcasts were interrupted and no announcement had been
made by the putschists several hours after their takeover.
Mauritania's
main Nouakchott airport was closed to civilian traffic, military
sources told AFP.
A
foreign diplomat confirmed that the airport had been shut since 10:00
am (1000 GMT), some five hours after soldiers of the presidential
guard took over key buildings in the capital.
Troops
were barring entry to the airport terminal but no armored vehicles
were visible, an AFP correspondent reported.
Shops
in the sand-blanketed city were closed and taxis were not stopping to
pick up people trying to leave the town center.
Five
blasts were heard at 10:15 am (10:15 GMT) near the center of the city,
whose residents were gradually taking shelter, according to Reuters.
A
Reuters reporter on the border with Senegal said border guards were
preventing people from leaving the country.
The
French embassy in Nouakchott said it was monitoring the situation in
the former colony but declined to make any further comment.
Past
Coups
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Taya
is said to have landed in Niger coming from Saudi Arabia.
(Reuters)
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Dissident
soldiers came close to toppling Taya in June 2003 during two days of
street fighting in Nouakchott before loyalist forces regained control.
The
government says it foiled two more coup attempts in 2004.
President
Taya himself seized power in a 1984 coup. Analysts said his
normalization with Israel and cementing ties with Washington have
alienated a broad section of society.
Mauritania
-- which hopes to start pumping oil early next year -- is one of only
three Arab League member states that have established diplomatic ties
with Israel.
It
is also, according to analysts, one of the most repressive countries
in the region towards Islamist movements.
Police
have arrested scores of Islamic opposition leaders and activists since
April.
In
May, security forces searched mosques around the capital and arrested
imams, according to Reuters.
Analysts
have warned that Mauritania's attempts to stifle opposition groups by
denouncing them as terrorists risks backfiring by radicalizing
moderate Islamists.
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