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Bloodless coup in Mauritania
03/08/2005 16:48 - (SA)
Nouakchott, Mauritania - A group of army officers in Mauritania have overthrown President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Taya in an apparently bloodless coup d'etat, announcing a military junta would rule the Islamic nation for up to two years.
Taya, who himself seized power in a coup two decades ago, was out of the country at the time. arrived on Wednesday in nearby Niger from Saudi Arabia, where he had gone on Monday for the funeral of King Fahd.
Trouble began at dawn, when presidential guard troops took control of the national radio and television stations, cutting broadcasts and seizing a building housing the army chief of staff headquarters.
Cabinet ministers and army officials either could not be reached or refused to comment. No private broadcasters are allowed to operate in the tightly controlled desert nation.
The group of army officers issued a statement through the state-run news agency. They identified themselves as the Military Council for Justice and Democracy.
"The armed forces and security 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. No comment from Taya
The junta said it would exercise power for up to two years to allow time to put in place "open and transparent" democratic institutions.
In Niger's capital, Niamey, Taya refused comment.
He held talks at the airport with Niger President Mamadou Tandja, but did not speak to reporters and security forces kept journalists at a distance. He later travelled to a villa in Niamey, where officials said he might stay for several days.
Earlier in Nouakchott, a short burst of automatic gunfire was heard near the presidential palace, where three anti-aircraft truck batteries were set up at midmorning. No casualties were reported.
Heavily armed army troops also deployed extra troops around ministerial offices and the presidential palace. They patrolled the streets in force, blocking key roads and several entrances to the city. People fleeing
The international airport in Nouakchott was also closed, military officials there said.
Mohamed Ali, a father of eight who lives near the presidency, was among several dozen people fleeing the city centre.
"I'm afraid for my family," he said. "I'll come back with things are back to normal."
Taya had ruled the sparsely populated nation of 3 million on the northwest edge of Africa since seizing power in a 1984 military coup. He tried to legitimise his rule in the 1990s through elections the opposition says were fraudulent.
Taya, who is in his 60s, has survived several coup attempts during his 20-year reign. Only one attempt - in 2003 - made it past the planning stage, marked by several days of street fighting in the capital. Al-Qaeda
Since then, he has cracked down ruthlessly against opponents, including members of Islamist groups and the army, jailing scores of people accused of plotting to overthrow him. His government has also accused opponents of training with al-Qaeda linked insurgents in Algeria.
Islamist leaders in Mauritania have staunchly opposed Taya, criticising him for building close ties with Israel. Mauritania, an Arab-dominated West African nation straddling black and Arab Africa, opened full diplomatic relations with Israel in the 1990s despite widespread objections at home.
Taya supported Iraq's Saddam Hussein during the 1991 Gulf War, but switched allegiances dramatically in the late 1990s, allying himself with the US in its global war on terror.
The first exploitation of the impoverished nation's vast offshore reserves of petroleum are expected during the first quarter of 2006.
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