MAURITANIA:TROOPS ARMED with heavy machine guns patrolled the capital of the west African nation of Mauritania last night after taking the president and prime minister into custody and installing a junta.
State radio and television were taken off-air as soldiers took control of key installations, ending the country's first freely elected government.
They moved swiftly through Nouakchott in a coup apparently prompted by President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi's decision to dismiss the head of the army and three other senior officers earlier in the day.
The president's daughter, Amal Mint Cheikh, told Radio France International that she was trapped inside the presidential palace.
"The president has just been arrested by a commando, who came to fetch him, arrested him here and took him away. This is a real coup d'etat." She said armed guards had been posted throughout the residence.
Outside, witnesses described the city as calm although police later used tear gas to disperse groups of Abdallahi supporters.There were no reports of serious trouble.
The desert nation of Mauritania, straddling the western edge of the Sahara, has a long history of civil strife. Its population has endured more than 10 coups or attempted coups since independence from France in 1960.
Its latest upheaval comes at a critical time in the country's history, however. Mauritania is one of Africa's newest oil producers and has been the target of recent al-Qaeda attacks.
Rising food prices have also sparked street demonstrations in one of the world's poorest countries, fuelling popular discontent with Mr Abdallahi. Yet his removal will be seen by some as a setback for a country that had been moving towards democracy. He became the country's first democratically elected leader when he took power last year in elections generally seen as free and fair but has faced repeated questions about his rule ever since.
On Monday, 48 MPs walked out of the government following a vote of no confidence two weeks earlier. They wanted a commission set up to tackle the rising cost of living and an investigation into allegations of corruption.
Mr Abdallahi, a devout Muslim, also angered allies by opening a dialogue with Islamic hardliners who had been accused of links to terrorist networks. The final straw was his dismissal of the country's four most senior military officers.
Sidi Mohamed Ould Maham, a spokesman for the MPs, said: "By his decision to oust the generals he attacked the army head-on, who reacted by deposing him and in some measure he is reaping the fruits of his bad decisions."
Culture minister Abdellahi Salem Ould el-Mouallah read out a statement on television on behalf of the coup leaders.
"The state council, headed by Gen Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, declares that the decree by which the former president had dismissed the chief of staff of the national army, the chief of the special presidential staff, the chief of the national gendarmes and the chief of the national guards, is annulled legally and practically," he said.
Analysts said it was another reminder of Africa's "oil curse", where fossil fuel finds often prompted instability.
"This news will come as a setback to perceptions of improved governance," said Razia Khan, chief Africa economist of Standard Chartered bank. "It should also result in some focus on the political stability of Africa's new oil economies, more broadly."
The African Union condemned the coup, demanded a return to constitutional government and said it was sending an envoy to Nouakchott immediately.
The European Commission said it undermined progress towards democracy and jeopardised €154 million in aid allocated for the next five years.
"This situation could put into question our policy of co-operation with Mauritania," said EU aid and development commissioner Louis Michel.
The region has taken on additional strategic importance with the discovery of oil and gas reserves in 2006 and with the arrival of Islamic terrorist.
Mauritania, which bridges Arab Africa and sub-Saharan Africa was shaken by three attacks between December 2007 and February 2008 carried out by extremists linked to al-Qaeda. Seven people died, including four French tourists. The attacks caused the organisers of the 2008 Dakar rally to cancel the race, which usually crosses the Mauritanian deserts.
Mauritania: economic and political facts
Physical geography:Most of the country is desert. At 1,025,220sq km (395,840sq mls), it is almost twice as big as former colonial power France, but has little more than 800km (500 mls) of paved roads.
Population:Almost all of the country's 3.1 million people are Muslims and it is officially an Islamic republic.
Ethnicity:Moors of Arab-Berber origin form about 70 per cent of the population. Most black African inhabitants are from the Fulani and Soninke ethnic groups.
Language:Arabic and French are the official languages. Mauritania's Moors speak Bassanya, an Arab dialect; Fulani and Sarakole are also spoken in the south.
Politics:President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi took office in 2007 after winning elections marking the return of civilian rule.
Economy:The country's main products are fish, livestock and iron ore, although offshore oil reserves promise to revolutionise the economy.
Mauritania began producing crude oil in early 2006, forecasting output of 75,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the offshore Chinguetti field. Difficulties extracting the oil from the field's complex reservoir structure have resulted in Chinguetti's output falling below 15,000 bpd. But other companies are prospecting in other parts of the country and hopes are high.
The IMF reported in February 2008 that more than $2 billion in donor aid pledged the previous December could help Mauritania's economy grow by more than 4.5 per cent in 2008 as it emerged from a slowdown in 2007.
The Saharan state's economic growth slowed to 0.9 per cent in 2007 due to a sharp fall in output from the oil sector. The non-oil sector grew by 5.7 per cent.