بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
Questions:
The
Military Coup in Mauritania
On 6th of August, 2008, a military
coup was announced in Mauritania staged by the army led by the chief of the
Republican Guard, General Mohammed Abdul Azeez against the President of the
Republic Sayyid Mohammed al Sheikh Abdullah and his Prime Minister Yahya Ahmad
al Waqif. This coup took place 16 months after the elections facilitated by the
army in March 2007, which itself were less than 2 years after the 2005 military
coup which dethroned Waleed al Ta’e and the army assumed authority under the
leadership of Colonel Ali Mohammed Faal who honored his commitment to transfer
power to an elected government. What is the reality of this latest coup and
what prompted it?
Answer:
In 1920 the colonialist France
occupied the Muslims in Mauritania after a fierce resistance and declared
Mauritania as a French colony. Then in 1946, they declared it as an overseas
protectorate state under the French suzerainty and the imperialist colonialists
remained there until 1960 when they allowed a formal independence but retained
control over authority, constituted an army based on their creed and trained
officers in their culture. Thus a series of military coups were staged beginning
with the 1978 coup against the first French-appointed president Mukhtar Dadah.
Until now five successful coups have taken place in Mauritania apart from nine
failed attempts during the last thirty years.
The latest coup staged by General
Mohammed Abdul Azeez follows a decree by the deposed president Sayyid Mohammed
al Sheikh Abdullah dismissing the general as the commander of the Republican
Guard as well as the chief of staff al Ghazawani and the commander of the
police. It may be recalled that it was the deposed president who had promoted
the three colonel officers to the rank of generals, which means that either he
approved of them or was under their pressure or perhaps he was trying to
placate them by means of these promotions and earn their loyalties, which is
more probable.
However it was surprising to see the
deposed president take a complete U-turn and dismiss the army leadership in
such a hurry and with such ease! Note that the three generals were in command
and he was a newly elected president coming to office for his first term and
moreover he was the first elected president! It appears that he presumed and
counted on support both locally and oversees because of the democratic process
and he also supposedly under estimated that France would instigate or encourage
the military officers prompting them to stage the coup. The president appears
to have counted heavily on US support for him.
In the first French reaction to the
coup in Mauritania, as expressed by the French foreign office spokesman Roman
Nadal said that his ministry was in constant touch with the French Embassy in
Nouakchott and was monitoring the situation in coordination with all their
allies. He added that it was a little premature to make further comments on the
situation. France was the first foreign country to make the announcement about
the coup having taken place in Mauritania and its Ambassador was the first to
have been received by the coup leader. This itself suggests that France was
aware of the chain of events there. It was reported in the media that France
knew about the coup at least two hours before hand.
As for the US reaction expressed by
the State department spokesman, it condemned the coup, demanded that all
countries rebuke the event and also welcomed the European Commission and the
Organisation of African Unity‘s condemnations. The US State department
spokesman further demanded that the elected president Sayyid Mohammed al Sheikh
Abdullah and his Prime Minister Yahya Ahmad al Waqif be released and the
elected government be reinstated forthwith. He also announced immediate
suspension of all US aid to Mauritania other than humanitarian assistance.
But just one day after the coup,
France in her capacity as the current president of the EU issued a statement
saying that the EU condemns the coup staged by General Mohammed Abdul Azeez in
Mauritania. It is apparent that this rather belated condemnation came not from
France but from the EU which reflects the policy of supporting elections and
democracy at the ideological level and which is at variance with the stance of
the individual nations. Further, this condemnation comes in the wake of the US
demand that all countries rebuke the events in Mauritania. Off course, Europe
could not have openly supported the coup which would contradict with its policy
of fostering democracies.
The British on their part did not
issue reaction nor was the coup covered in its press and media at all, which
indicates that Britain was not upset with the coup. It neither condemned it not
supported it nor even commented on it either ways. This was a clever maneuver
designed to insulate Britain from being embarrassed by supporting the coup and
appearing anti-democracy!
The present Mauritanian coup took
place after a dispute between the army and the Republic’s president and his
government. The army had asked the parliamentary & Senate members of the
ruling party known for short as the Justice party to resign from their party.
As a result, 48 members of the ruling party resigned on 5th August, 2008 C.E
and consequently, the president dismissed the army command including the coup
leader General Mohammed Abdul Azeez. The army command responded to their
dismissal and rejected to decree dismissing them and declared it to be invalid immediately
afterwards. The coup leader General Mohammed Abdul Azeez said in a statement
today 9th August, 2008 C.E that the coup was in response to the failures of the
deposed president. As for the spokesman of the deposed presidency Abdullah Mama
Duba said: "The armed forces thought of the president as pliable, but it
turned out to be otherwise, and when the president tried to forge a majority in
alliance with other parties, the armed forces moved in with their
weapons."
The parliamentary crisis began on
30th June, 2008 C.E when the members accused the government of failures and
demanded that it had lost confidence and hence its removal. On 1st July, 2008, there
were reports to the effect that France was behind the members move and that it
was not satisfied with the performance of the government and the president as
well as their policies. The reports cited certain points including its
disapproval of the release of some Muslim prisoners held in prisons who were
trying to form what it said was a `Islamist` party. This, according to the
reports suggested that the president had religious inclinations since he
erected a mosque in the Presidential palace premises. The reports further said
that it suggested that the president was sensitive to relations with the Jewish
entity and wanted to hold a referendum on the issue and sever relations with
the Jewish state. The reports further accused the president of allowing
increased American presence in Mauritania and considered him as its leading
agent.
To conclude, based on the fore
going, it may be said that France did not approve of the political attitude of
the deposed president and this disapproval of France encouraged the military
officers to stage the coup against him, while the US approved of his
anti-French and pro-American policies aimed at increasing the US presence in Mauritania
as a first step to erase the French influence and replacing it with US hold.
The president decided to extricate of the army’s authority, brought in officers
whom he could work with and removed officers loyal to France.
Or,
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