Is it a Coup d'Etat yet? = reports from Mauritania

international | crime and justice | other press Wednesday August 03, 2005 12:59 by iosaf

the Sub saharan state of Mauritania has seen events in the last 48 hours which suggest a coup d'etat in progress though latest news reports suggest an aborted coup.

The president Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya is currently in Riad to attend the funeral of the Saudi King.

"Islamist" military officers stationed troops on the street and shut the radio down, Mauritania doesn't really get much telly.

the state borders both Algeria and the disputed Western Sahara "on the other side of the 2,720 km long wall"

This is generally how you are felt to start a coup in a state with poor infrastructure and low development.

The leader of the opposition (who lives in exile) Bidi Ould Binu, has told Al Jazeera in Paris that the presidential guard have orchestrated the coup and also that it was expected "for 20 years" and its all Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya's fault.

It has been 2 years since the last such coup attempt, though the government claims it stopped 2 smaller attempted coups in 2004 when the radio stayed working and there was still a few hours of telly at night.

As it is, it is impossible to tell you at time of writing - if the coup has succeeded or not.

= "Reports are conflicting"

http://www.albawaba.com/en/news/187203
http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,1280,-5186444,00.html
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=14184
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20050803.wmauritania0803/BNStory/International/

If there is a coup, then Bidi Ould Binu will want to return from Paris and play a part, and of course Maaouya Ould Sid Ahmed Taya won't be rushing to fly home from Saudi Arabia. But that's presidential stuff, what we worry about are ordinary people.
They generally divide into three types on such occassions, and one of the first concerns is
"refugees".
Mauritanian refugees would most probably want to go north, which would bring them into either Western Sahara or Algeria. They will find it very difficult to get into Europe because there's a wall and mines between them and us. This is for their safety.

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final link to article on events in the Western Sahara July 17 to today with background information and constant updates explaining the most serious process of "destabilisation" in the region.