Cops seize candidate's guns
2003-11-04 14:37
Nouakchott - Police in Mauritania have searched the home of a leading opposition presidential candidate and seized weapons "as a precaution," they said ahead of hotly disputed elections in the west African desert state on Friday.
Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah, a former head of state who was overthrown in a 1984 coup by the current president, Maaouiya Ould Taya, vowed not to give in to intimidation ahead of the unprecedented six-way race.
The retired colonel's campaign director Ismael Ould Amar told reporters on Monday that an "anti-terrorist brigade" had entered the candidate's house without a search permit in a "violation of the home" and seized two guns.
He said the action was "a mere pretext for scaring our voters, given the popularity of our candidate, who will be the winner on Friday."
The election, which will go to a second round two weeks later if none of the candidates takes more than 50% of the votes, comes six months after an attempted military coup was violently quashed in the former French colony.
Ould Haidallah, who was president of Mauritania from January 1980 until the December 1984 coup, would be the first to congratulate Ould Taya "if he is honestly reelected," his campaign director said.
The New York-based group Human Rights Watch warned in September of a "climate of harassment of opposition members" and voiced fears over the fairness of the upcoming vote.
It noted the arrests of dozens of religious leaders, opposition politicians and social activists on allegations of involvement in terrorist activities.
Ould Haidallah's office said the former president would "not give in to provocation and will continue to play fair."
Police said they had searched his house as well as those of "some of his supporters and some mosques," and that the weapons had been seized as "a precaution".
Ould Amar said he was "surprised by these extra-judicial procedures" and wondered whether the authorities were intent on banning Haidallah's candidacy or even cancelling the vote.
"In any case, we refuse to enter into a confrontation and we will continue to act calmly, even if we see this as a very serious mistake for the security of the country," Ould Amar said.
He said the police had confiscated "two old weapons, one dating from the Sahara War (against Spanish and then Moroccan control of Western Sahara) and the other on loan from the National Guard."
Ould Amar asked: "What retired colonel, and for that matter what ordinary Mauritanian citizen does not have one or two weapons?"