The Mauritanian government has released about 90 soldiers, including four senior officers, who had been arrested for questioning after a failed coup d'etat on 8 June. The soldiers were released on Saturday after being cleared of involvement in the coup attempt, which led to two days of heavy fighting in the capital Nouakchott. Dozens more of the 150 or so suspects who were rounded up after the failed putsch were likely to be released this week. Three former army officers suspected of leading the uprising against President Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya have all gone into hiding. But a lieutenant implicated in the coup attempt who fled to Senegal, was arrested and extradited back to Mauritania last month to face trial.
| Lietenants aren't really large fish... |
Last Saturday, a group of leading imams and Islamic scholars in Mauritania issued a joint declaration, which had the status of an official fatwa, condemning the wave of arrests as an affront to justice and divine law.
| "Yes! Yes! It is against justice and divine law to detain people who shoot up the capital and want to impose theocracy! God told us that!" |
Meanwhile, former president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah has announced that he will stand against Taya, who deposed him in a coup 19 years ago, in presidential elections due on November 7. Ould Haidallah is a 63-year-old former army colonel who enjoys strong support among Islamic religious leaders, the business community and the Mauritanian diaspora in Europe. He headed a military government in this desert country of 2.5 million from 1980 to 1984 and is widely regarded as the strongest challenger to emerge so far to the current president.
| The mullahs flopped in the coup attempt. Now they'll get out the vote and see if they can't take over that way. |
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