Mauritania hunts coup plotters
2004-09-26 14:22
Nouakchott - Security forces carried out a late-night raid in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott, searching several houses in an operation that unofficial sources said was aimed at catching the instigators of an attempted military coup that shook the northwest African country last year.
An AFP correspondent said the forces sealed off the Ksar neighbourhood in the north of the city late on Saturday.
Unofficial sources said Captain Abderahmane Ould Mini, one of the alleged plotters of a failed coup in June 2003, was arrested during the sweep, but there was no official confirmation. There is an international warrant for the arrest of Ould Mini.
On June 8 last year army officers launched a coup bid that led to 36 hours of fighting and left 15 people dead and 38 injured, according to an official toll.
Most of the coup leaders managed to escape, and are still being sought. However, over 130 members of the military have been arrested, and are due to go on trial in Nouakchott on November 21.
A second abortive coup attempt took place on August 9 this year, and the government of Mauritanian President Maaouiya Ould Taya has accused Libya and the west African state of Burkina Faso of both supporting it and providing refuge to the people who plotted it.
On Saturday, government spokesman Hamoud Ould Abdi renewed the accusation against Burkina Faso, saying the country was home to training camps for guerrillas bent on overthrowing the Mauritanian government.
Mauritania, a mainly desert state to the south of Morocco, is one of the poorest countries in the world.