BANJUL, 17 August 2005 — Qatar has offered asylum to Mauritania’s ousted President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya almost two weeks after he was overthrown in a bloodless coup, a Gambian official said yesterday.
“Qatar has invited Taya to seek asylum there,” said a Gambian official in the capital Banjul, where Taya is currently in temporary refuge. A Mauritanian diplomatic source also said Qatar had made an offer. Officials in Qatar were not available to comment.
A 17-member military council led by some of Taya’s closest aides seized power in the Islamic republic on Aug. 3 while the president was out of the country, promising democratic elections within two years.
