NOUAKCHOTT: Mauritanian soldiers overthrew the elected president in a coup yesterday and announced the formation of a military ruling council.
Soldiers in this northwest African state seized President Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi at his palace after he sacked four senior army officers.
“The security agents of the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion) came to our home around 9:20 a.m. and took my father away,” said Amal Abdallahi, the president’s daughter. “We are being kept in the house, forbidden to leave. There are guards posted in the kitchen, the bedrooms, even the showers. The phones have been cut. It is certainly a coup.”
The Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the African Union and the European Union condemned the coup.
A state council, led by one of the sacked officers, Mohamed Ould Abdul Aziz, said Abdallahi was now “former president”. He annulled his previous decree sacking Abdel Aziz and the heads of the army and gendarmerie. The communiqué, described as the council’s “Statement No. 1,” was broadcast by Arabic television stations.
Abdallahi, who was elected in free and fair elections last year, took over from a military junta that had toppled President Maaouya Ould Sidahmed Taya in a bloodless coup in 2005.
A presidency official, who declined to be named, said Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed El-Ouakef and the interior minister had also been arrested and taken to an unknown destination.
The return to democratic rule last year had been widely welcomed by the international community.
Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the OIC secretary-general, stated that he was particularly dismayed by the military takeover as Mauritania had been exhibiting exemplary movement toward the entrenchment of democracy and rule of law with the visible positive role and support of its armed forces.
Ihsanoglu reminded all Mauritanians and the international community that the OIC had invested heavily in the democracy project in Mauritania and hoped that the armed forces would continue their positive role in favor of democracy. He called for the restoration of the democratic process as soon as possible, including an immediate release of the president, the prime minister and other members of the government.
A statement issued at African Union headquarters in Addis Ababa said: “The African Union condemns the coup d’état and demands the restoration of constitutional legality.”
The European Union condemned the coup and demanded Abdallahi be restored to power.
“The European Union is very concerned by the situation in Mauritania, which puts into question the remarkable democratic progress in this country,” it said.
Abdallahi dismissed his government in May after criticism over its response to soaring food prices and to a series of militant attacks over the last year. Mauritania is one of only three Arab League states to have diplomatic relations with Israel.
A new government resigned last month in the face of a proposed no-confidence vote, and a replacement Cabinet lacked the support of the opposition Union of Forces for Progress (UFP) and Islamist Tawassoul parties, which were included in the previous government.
