Observations on Mauritania
Three years ago this month, the Mauritanian army seized power from the long-term dictator Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya in a bloodless coup led by Colonel Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. On 6 August this year, Aziz, now promoted to general, told the president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, that he was relieved of his duties.
This is not just another of the military coups that have plagued the poor desert country on the Sahara's Atlantic seaboard since it gained independence from France in 1960. President Cheikh Abdallahi was democratically elected, with the support of the military, in March 2007, as part of the junta's plan to return the country to civilian rule within two years.
But in a statement given as president of the military council shortly after this month's coup, Aziz accused Cheikh Abdallahi of corruption, inability to deal with the problem of rising food prices and, most critically, a failure of nerve towards militant Islamists.
In three incidents in December 2007 and January 2008, four French tourists and three soldiers were killed by Mauritanian members of a Salafist group known as the al-Qaeda Organisation in the Islamic Maghreb. The attacks rocked the country, which, despite its official title of Islamic Republic, has been politically moderate. It is one of the three Arab League members to have full diplomatic relations with Israel, which in its turn has been happy to train and arm the Mauritanian military, with the support of the US, as an ally in the "war on terror".
Mauritania's reputation suffered when the 2008 Dakar rally, which passes through the country, had to be cancelled after extremist threats, while the military began to doubt Cheikh Abdallahi's commitment to strong measures against the Salafists as he allied himself with Islamist parties that sought to sever links with Israel.
Cheikh Abdallahi's rapprochement with politicians close to the ousted Taya was the final straw. On 4 August, 48 parliamentarians of the ruling National Pact for Democracy and Development party staged a walkout in protest at the president's policies. Two days later, the army stepped in.
Apart from a few protesters in the capital Nouakchott, most Mauritanians have accepted the coup. General Aziz has not dissolved parliament and promises to hold new presidential elections "soon". The UN, US, EU and African Union have all condemned the coup, but Europe should watch closely. It has strong interests in Mauritania's fishing, mineral and oil resources, as well as in the country's crucial role in maintaining regional stability and dealing with the flow of illegal African migrants.
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