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Mauritania president is ousted by junta

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania - A military junta overthrew Mauritania's U.S.-allied president while he was abroad Wednesday, prompting celebrations in this oil-rich Islamic nation that looked increasingly 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, declaring that the days of authoritarianism and military rule must end across the continent.

President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya, who 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 at dawn and seized a building housing the army chief of staff headquarters.

Later in the day the junta named the national police chief, Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, as the country's new leader.

Vall, 55, was considered a confident of Taya's. He developed a reputation of calmness while serving as chief since 1987.

The junta statement identified Vall as "president" of the military council that seized power. It named 16 other army officers, nearly all colonels, who would rule the country.

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, adding that the United States was reaching out and talking to officials from the government.

He also said the U.S. Embassy in Nouakchott was open but Americans were advised to stay home and take precautions to ensure their safety. There are 200 to 300 Americans in the desert nation, mostly aid workers and members of the Peace Corps, according to U.S. officials.

The U.S. military has sent special operations troops to train Mauritania's army, most recently in June as part of efforts to deny terrorists sanctuary in the underpoliced Sahara desert region.

The junta identified itself in a statement on the state-run news agency as the Military Council for Justice and Democracy.

"The armed forces have unanimously decided to put an end to the totalitarian practices of the deposed regime under which our people have suffered much," the statement said.

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, but industry analysts said the coup was unlikely to significantly affect global oil prices.

This sparsely populated nation on the northwestern edge of the Sahara had been strictly controlled by Taya, who tried to legitimize his rule in the 1990s through elections the opposition says were fraudulent. Islamic leaders in the impoverished nation of 3-million have led the opposition to Taya, criticizing him for building close ties with Israel.

[Last modified August 4, 2005, 01:06:05]