MUSLIM MAURITANIA
Mauritania, pronounced mawr ih TAY nee uh, is a country in western Africa. It stretches eastward from the Atlantic coast into the Sahara. Arabic-speaking people called Moors make up most of the population. Black Africans form a large minority group. About 99 percent of the people are Muslims.
Mauritania bomber injures 3 near French Embassy
By AHMED MOHAMED (AP)
August 8, 2009
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — A suicide bomber killed himself outside the French Embassy on Saturday night, wounding two embassy guards and a woman in the street, police and witnesses said.
The man blew himself up around 7 p.m. (1900 GMT, 3 p.m. EDT), a policeman at the scene said. He confirmed witness accounts that the young man was dark-skinned and appeared young. He gave no other details. The policeman did not give his name, saying he was not allowed to talk to journalists.
Witnesses said the bomber's body was scattered in pieces on the street.
In France, the Foreign Ministry said it was informed of two people slightly injured in the attack, a ministry official said. He did not provide nationalities or say whether they were guards. There was no damage to the embassy and the official said it was too early to say whether it was the target of the attack.
The official wasn't authorized to speak publicly on the matter and asked not to be identified.
Extremist violence in Mauritania, a moderate Muslim nation in West Africa, has increased in recent years.
Earlier this month, a judge charged three men with murder in the slaying of an American teacher in Mauritania, and also charged them with aiding al-Qaida, which had claimed responsibility for the murder.
Mauritania's new president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who was sworn in three days before the bombing, said during his campaign that he would crack down on al-Qaida. He was elected in July after agreeing to elections after heading a coup in 2008.
The U.S. has expressed concern over the steady spread south from Algeria in recent years of al-Qaida's North Africa branch. While Washington never recognized Aziz's junta, it is keen to maintain Mauritania as a bulwark against the terror group and prevent the moderate Muslim nation from sliding toward extremism.
Thursday, August 4, 2005
Military junta overthrows Mauritania's president
Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya seized power in a 1984 coup.
By AHMED MOHAMED
The Associated Press
NOUAKCHOTT, MAURITANIA – A military junta overthrew Mauritania's U.S.-allied president Wednesday, prompting celebrations in this oil-rich Islamic nation that has been looking to the West amid alleged threats from al-Qaida- linked militants.
The junta promised to yield to democratic rule within two years, but African leaders and the United States were quick to condemn the coup, saying that the days of authoritarianism and military rule must end across the continent.
President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya, who himself seized power in a 1984 coup and dealt ruthlessly with his opponents, was out of the country when presidential guardsmen cut broadcasts from the national radio and television stations and seized a building housing the army chief of staff headquarters.
Later, the junta named the national police chief, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, 55, as the country's new leader.
Its statement identified Vall as "president" of the military council that seized power.
Taya, who had allied his overwhelmingly Muslim nation with the United States in the war on terrorism, refused comment after arriving Wednesday in nearby Niger from Saudi Arabia, where he attended King Fahd's funeral.
The State Department joined the African Union in calling for the restoration of the government.
"We call for a peaceful return for order under the constitution and the established government of President Taya," State Department spokesman Tom Casey said in Washington.
The junta said it would exercise power for up to two years to allow time to put in place "open and transparent" democratic institutions.
Oil recently was discovered in reserves offshore, and Mauritania is expected to begin pumping crude for the first time early next year.
Hundreds of people celebrated the coup in the city center, saluting soldiers guarding the presidential palace, clapping and singing anti-Taya slogans in Arabic.
"It's the end of a long period of oppression and injustice," civil servant Fidi Kane said. "We are very delighted with this change of regime."
State television and radio were back on air by afternoon, with journalists reading the junta's statement repeatedly, interspersed with Quranic readings - normal in the Islamic nation.
Taya had survived several coup attempts, including one in 2003 that led to days of fighting in the capital.
After that, he jailed scores of members of Muslim fundamentalist groups and the army accused of plotting to overthrow him. His government also has accused opponents of training with al-Qaida-linked insurgents in Algeria.
A June 4 border raid by al-Qaida-linked insurgents sparked a gunbattle that killed 15 Mauritanian troops and nine attackers.