SA condemns Mauritania coup
Bathandwa Mbola
7 August 2008
The South African government has joined the international community in condemning the military coup in Mauritania.
"South Africa has never countenanced the use of military coups to settle political issues and joins the entire international community in expressing its outright and unequivocal condemnation of such unconstitutional transfer of power," the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Wednesday.
"South Africa like the rest of humanity calls for an immediate return to democracy and the rule of law."
New junta
The concern follows reports that army officers in Mauritania staged a military coup, overthrowing the government and announcing a new junta to be led by the head of the country's presidential guard.
According to the reports, the coup took place after the president and prime minister fired the country's top four military officials.
The coup comes less than six months after Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi came to power in elections hailed as a model of democracy for Africa, following a three-year transition after a previous coup in 2005.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has also called for the immediate restoration of order in the country. "The secretary-general calls for respect for the rule of law and the immediate restoration of constitutional order in the country," the UN news website reported.
No confidence
Mauritania has been facing a political crisis after 48 members of parliament walked out on the ruling party on Monday, less than two weeks after a vote of no confidence in the government which had prompted a cabinet reshuffle.
Since becoming independent from France in 1960, the country has experienced three previous military coups in 1978, 1984 and 2005.
Mauritania, a sparsely populated nation of three million on the north-west edge of Africa, is tightly controlled by Maaouya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya who took power in a 1984 military coup and tried to legitimise his rule in the 1990s through elections.
The country recently discovered oil in its offshore waters, and exports started in early 2006. Other sources of income are mining for iron, copper, zinc, gold, phosphates, and fishing.
Source: BuaNews
