Secret Squirrel
08-03-2005, 12:09 PM
The Mauritanian armed forces took advantage of the absence of the country's president Wednesday to seize power, according to a statement carried by the state news agency.
President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and is reportedly in Niger's capital, Niamey, on his way back from Riyadh.
"The armed forces have decided to put an end to the totalitarian rule and take over power, and we promise to rule transparently and democratically," said the statement, signed by the Military Council for Justice.
There was no immediate word from Taya.
The council also said it would rule the north African nation for a maximum of two years and "will respect all treaties that were signed or agreed upon already."
Taya has been president of Mauritania since 1984. After the adoption of a new constitution and the legalization of opposition parties in 1991, he won re-election in both 1997 and 2003, although election observers considered both votes flawed.
Mauritanian television, which had been off the air all morning Wednesday, began broadcasting again with the military statement, read by a woman wearing a Muslim headdress, the hijab.
"The armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the totalitarian acts in the past few years of the defunct regime under which our people have suffered greatly in the last few years," the statement said, as translated by CNN.
link (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/03/mauritania/index.html)
President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and is reportedly in Niger's capital, Niamey, on his way back from Riyadh.
"The armed forces have decided to put an end to the totalitarian rule and take over power, and we promise to rule transparently and democratically," said the statement, signed by the Military Council for Justice.
There was no immediate word from Taya.
The council also said it would rule the north African nation for a maximum of two years and "will respect all treaties that were signed or agreed upon already."
Taya has been president of Mauritania since 1984. After the adoption of a new constitution and the legalization of opposition parties in 1991, he won re-election in both 1997 and 2003, although election observers considered both votes flawed.
Mauritanian television, which had been off the air all morning Wednesday, began broadcasting again with the military statement, read by a woman wearing a Muslim headdress, the hijab.
"The armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the totalitarian acts in the past few years of the defunct regime under which our people have suffered greatly in the last few years," the statement said, as translated by CNN.
link (http://edition.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/africa/08/03/mauritania/index.html)