Terror claims 'exaggerated'

2005-08-11 13:48

Nouakchott - Islamic leaders freed from jail after last week's coup claimed the toppled president wrongly branded them terrorists and said that was responsible for any extremism in this overwhelmingly Muslim nation.

Experts say United States-allied President Maaya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya's allegations that Islamic terrorists were at work here were exaggerated, adding to widespread resentment that led to his downfall in an August 3 military putsch.

On Wednesday, African Union (AU) envoys who came decrying the coup left convinced most Mauritanians wanted the former dictator out and expressed confidence the military junta would keep its promise to usher in democracy within two years.

Accusations of extremism, terrorism

On Sunday, a judge in Nouakchott freed 21 of Taya's prisoners, jailed since April 25 on charges of plotting against the state. At least 50 others remain behind bars on similar charges.

"The deposed regime accused all its opponents of extremism and terrorism," said Mohamed Hassan Ould Dedew, a prominent Islamic spiritual leader who was one of those released.

Taya's repressive tactics radicalised extremists, Dedew said. It was a policy that risked producing "young terrorists ready to kill themselves" he said.

"Mauritania needs moderate Islamists who want to participate in a democratic debate that banishes extremism and cultivates a culture of tolerance and openness," Dedew said.

Mauritania has not been hit by suicide bombings. Taya's government had accused some opponents of training with al-Qaeda linked insurgents in neighbouring Algeria.

Violence in Mauritania

On June 4, guerrillas raided a remote army post in northern Mauritania that left 15 soldiers and nine attackers dead. Algeria's Salafist Group for Call and Combat, which is on the US list of terrorist organisations, purportedly claimed responsibility.

Moktar Ould Mohamed Moussa, a prominent Islamic-oriented politician who was freed on Sunday, said he was not abused during his time in jail. But detainees accused of being Salafists "were savagely tortured and forced to admit relations with foreign Jihadist organisations", he said.

Richard Cornwell, a researcher at South Africa's Institute of Security Studies, said most in Mauritania who believe Islam should be the basis of politics were moderate.

Taya's portrayal of Islamists as terrorists was "was really a way of justifying his own hold on power", he said.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a recent report the Taya regime had hit upon a subject to which Americans were particularly sensitive when it claimed an Islamic extremists peril.

America's ambassador to Mauritania, Joseph LeBaron, said in a recent interview Mauritania was first and foremost confronted with an external threat posed by the Algerian Salafist Group.

But LeBaron also said while outsiders may be the main worry, "there is clearly a threat within Mauritania".

- AP