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Mauritania president Abdallahi arrested in coup

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Wednesday, August 6, 2008

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Mauritania's President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf were arrested Wednesday in a military coup in Nouakchott, the country's capital. The coup has shut down state radio and television.

Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who was the President of Mauritania until the coup
Image: Marcello Casal Jr./Abr.

"The security agents of the BASEP [Presidential Security Battalion] came to our home around 9:20 and took away my father," Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi said, confirming that presidential guardsmen seized her father.

Soldiers gathered at the presidential palace after Abdallahi replaced senior army officers during a political crisis in the northwest African country, one of the continent's newest oil producers which also mines iron, copper and gold.

A state council is forming under the command of former presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz. The council's "Statement No. 1", which was broadcast by Gulf-based al-Arabiya television, announced that Abdallahi is now a "former president" and that his previous decision of sacking Abdelaziz as the head of the presidential guard had been voided.

The country, which has a long history of military coups, staged free elections in June 2007, two years after a previous coup.


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Articles presented on Wikinews reflect the specific time at which they were written and published, and do not attempt to encompass events or knowledge which occur or become known after their publication.

Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators.

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