Military Takes Over Mauritania

CAIRO [MENL] -- The military has launched another coup in Mauritania.
The military leadership has toppled the regime of Mauritanian President
Sidi Mohamed Ould Sheik Abdallahi. Abdallahi and his government were
arrested in a coup on Aug. 6 in Nouakchott hours after he ordered a
reshuffle in the military command.
"This is a real coup d'etat," Abdallahi's daughter, Amal, told Radio
France International in a telephone interview from the presidential palace.
Officials said agents of the Presidential Security Battalion arrived at
the presidential palace and took Abdallahi away. Later, Mauritania's prime
minister and interior minister were also arrested.
The coup, condemned by the European Union and the United States, was the
second in Mauritania since 2005. Abdallahi came into power in a military
coup, and in 2007 held and won a presidential election. Over the last two
months, the president came under heavy criticism, and on Aug. 4, 48
parliamentarians of Abdallahi's ruling party defected.