NOUAKCHOTT: The army general who successfully toppled Mauritania’s government staged a show of force yesterday, leading several thousand supporters in a march through the capital. His police fired tear gas at the few who protested the coup.
Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, architect of Wednesday’s coup and another back in 2005, stood on the back of an open Land Cruiser wearing his military uniform and a green beret. As he waved to the crowd, throngs of people held up giant posters of him and chanted slogans like “Yes to the coup!” and “We support the military!” Addressing the Mauritanian people for the first time since the change of government, Aziz declared he was “determined to save democracy.”
“It’s the army that brought an end to dictatorship in 2005. And today it’s once again the army that brings an end to dictatorship, to nepotism, to chaos and disorder,” he shouted. Elsewhere in this West African capital, police fired tear gas to disperse about 100 anti-coup protesters on the steps of Parliament who called yesterday for the country’s ousted president to be reinstated.
The new military junta yesterday announced plans to hold free and transparent elections “as soon as possible.” The junta leaders did not announce a date for the elections nor did they specify a reason for toppling the 15-month-old government of President Sidi Cheikh Ould Abdallahi, the first freely elected president in this desert nation in over two decades.
Until elections are held, Mauritania will be governed by an 11-member council, which will make sure that government institutions continue to function normally, according to a junta statement read early yesterday on national TV.
The council will be led by Aziz, the former commander of the presidential guard. “We will engage in a dialogue with all the political parties and all civic institutions in organizing these elections,” the junta said.
