Mauritania coup condemned

2005-08-04 09:39

Ahmed Mohamed

Nouakchott - A military junta toppled Mauritania's autocratic president while he was abroad, naming the longtime chief of this oil-rich desert nation's national police force as the country's new leader.

President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya's overthrow on Wednesday prompted celebrations in the Islamic nation that had looked increasingly to the West amid alleged threats from al-Qaeda linked militants.

The junta promised to yield to democratic rule within two years, but African leaders and the United States were quick to condemn the coup, declaring the days of authoritarianism and military rule must end across the continent.

A junta statement published by the state news agency said Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was "president" of the military council which seized power.

Vall, 55, has served as national police chief since 1987. Known for being calm and tight-lipped, he was considered a close confidant of Taya for more than two decades.

Local celebration

The junta statement identified 16 other army officers who were members of the military council which announced earlier it would rule for up to two years. Except for one captain, all members of the council are all colonels, the highest rank in the country's armed forces.

Taya, who himself seized power in a 1984 coup and dealt ruthlessly with those who opposed him, was out of the country when presidential guardsmen cut broadcasts from the national radio and television stations at dawn and seized a building housing the army chief of staff headquarters.

Taya, who had allied his overwhelmingly Muslim nation with the United States in the war on terror and with Israel, refused comment after arriving on Wednesday in nearby Niger from Saudi Arabia, where he attended King Fahd's funeral.

The junta identified itself in a statement on the state-run news agency as the Military Council for Justice and Democracy.

"The armed forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the deposed regime under which our people have suffered much over the last several years," the statement said.

The junta said it would exercise power for up to two years to allow time to put in place "open and transparent" democratic institutions.

Regional powerhouse Nigeria condemned the coup.

"As far as we are concerned, the days of tolerating military governance in our sub-region or anywhere are long gone," said Femi Fani-Kayode, a spokesperson for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo.

African Union chief Alpha Oumar Konare rejected "any unconstitutional change of government," as did United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

In Washington, state department spokesperson Tom Casey called for "a peaceful return for order under the constitution and the established government of President Taya."

After the coup was announced, hundreds of people celebrated in the city centre.

- AP