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Mauritania quashes attempted army coup

Government forces crushed a coup attempt led by disgruntled army officers after two days of street battles in the capital, Mauritania's leader said.

President Maaouya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya, unseen by the public since the fighting began two days earlier, appeared before the nation in a brief speech broadcast Monday from his presidential palace and thanked soldiers who remained loyal to him.

Military officials said earlier that coup forces had taken an armored division based in a southern suburb. "Time was necessary to destroy the division tank after tank," Ould Taya said in Arabic. "The rebellion has ended."

Gunshots and explosions, which had rocked Nouakchott since early Sunday, subsided Monday afternoon and there were no reports of fighting elsewhere. Government soldiers manned roadblocks in the city center, and police quelled looting that began with the fighting.

Even before Ould Taya's speech, hundreds of his supporters spilled into the desert capital's main boulevards, crying: "We have won, we have won."

The uprising followed a government crackdown on Islamic activists. Mauritania's government has a reputation of muzzling dissent, by censoring the media or by arresting opposition leaders.

"If the coup fails, it's a catastrophe," said one young man, Sid'Ahmed Ould Ali. "If it doesn't fail, it's still a catastrophe."

Throughout most of Sunday, there was heavy fighting around the presidential palace and nearby radio and television station.

Military officials said Monday that most fighting happened near military bases and the presidential palace -- which was hit by at least one tank round, they said.

One military official, speaking on condition of anonymity, blamed the coup attempt on a cabal led by former and current mid-ranking army officers.

Twelve coup plotters were currently under arrest, the official said, including two majors he identified as the ringleaders: Mohamed Ould Hanana, who was dismissed from the military two years earlier; and Mohamed Ould Sheikna, a current officer who was lightly injured during the fighting.

Authorities were seeking other arrests in the attempted power grab, the official said.

The coup attempt was the biggest threat to Ould Taya's government since he came to power in a military takeover in 1984. He was confirmed as president in 1992 and 1997 elections that were widely viewed as flawed.

The Arab satellite television station Al-Jazeera said the coup appeared to be led by army members angry about the government's campaign against Islamic extremism.

Mauritania's government has moved against Islamic activists since the US-led Iraq war, initially to try to prevent any shows of support for Saddam Hussein.

Dozens of Islamic leaders were arrested last month for allegedly using mosques to recruit fighters. At least 32 were freed Sunday when rebel soldiers released prisoners from two jails, opposition officials said.

Army Chief of Staff Mohammed Lamine Ould N'Deyane was killed by coup forces when he refused to join their ranks, the military official said.

Mauritania's Arab-led government has tried to balance a strongly Islamic nation with a pro-Western foreign policy.

After a falling out with Saddam, Ould Taya traded an alliance with Iraq for improved relations with Israel.

Mauritania is one of three Arab nations that has diplomatic relations with Israel.

Mauritania -- a Sahara Desert country of about 2.5 million people -- is among the world's 30 poorest nations.
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