Military Coup in Mauritania

The junta that took over Mauritania promised to swiftly hold "free and transparent" presidential elections in a statement read on national radio Thursday, as the international community condemned the military coup.

The 11-member Military Council led by former head of the presidential guard General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz had on Wednesday "ended the power of the president of the republic, invested on April 19 2007," the statement said.

The overthrown head of state, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, in March 2007 became Mauritania's first democratically elected president since independence in 1960.
The junta would together with other institutions "supervise the holding of presidential elections enabling the relaunch of the democratic process in the country and to reshape it on a perennial basis," the statement said. It promised: "These elections, which will be held in the shortest possible period, will be free and transparent and will bring for the future a continued and harmonious functioning of all the constitutional powers."

The international airport of Nouakchott, closed down Wednesday after the bloodless coup, was reopened in the evening, a security source said. The country's land borders had remained open.

Abdallahi was ousted after he tried to sack senior army officers accused of being behind a political crisis destabilising the country. He was arrested after military convoys rolled through the capital Nouakchott and took over the presidential palace and the prime minister's office, apparently without a shot being fired.Soldiers also took over the national radio and television headquarters, replacing the directors.

A statement read on public radio later said General Abdel Aziz, the head of the presidential guard sacked that morning, was leading the coup. The newly constituted Military Council said it was immediately annulling the army appointments made by the president.

The president's whereabouts were unknown after the coup, while Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf was taken to an army barracks near the presidency, security sources said. The former interior minister and two other officials considered to be close allies of Abdallahi were also arrested, security sources said. According to the Mauritanian news agency Agence Nouakchott d'Information (ANI), Abdel Aziz met the rest of the government ministers Wednesday afternoon and asked them to stay on in their posts.

The coup comes a little over a year since Abdallahi came to power in elections hailed as a model of democracy for Africa, following a three-year transition after a bloodless coup in August 2005.

Mauritania has been facing a political crisis and on Monday 48 members of parliament walked out on the ruling party less than two weeks after a vote of no confidence in the government prompted a cabinet reshuffle.

The largely desert country has a history of coups since gaining independence from France in 1960. On top of growing economic and social unrest in the country which has been hard hit by the global food crisis as it imports more than 70 percent of its food needs, Mauritania was shaken by terrorist attacks recently.

AFP

Arab-Berber clashes shake Algeria town

Hundreds of Algerian security forces were deployed in the town of Beriane on Sunday to try to end three nights of clashes between Arabs and minority Berbers, the worst urban unrest in the OPEC producer in months.

Residents said two people, including a 67-year-old, man have been killed and dozens made homeless since the disturbances involving rival gangs of hooded young men broke out in this north Saharan town of about 35,000 on Thursday evening.

"They burn our houses, steal and kill. The hatred has made them blind," Slimane Baaziz, 51, a member of the Mozabite Berber community, said of his Arab neighbours.

"They hate Arabs. These are criminals. They want to burn and kill. But we won't let them. We will defend ourselves and respond to their attacks," said Arab resident Noureddine Bkar.

The unrest stems from long-standing local communal rivalries but shares a feature of riots that have erupted in recent months in other towns due to economic grievances -- the enthusiastic and often violent participation of unemployed youths.

The intensity of the unrest means that Beriane is likely to be seen by Algerians as a test for the government's ability to respond to social tensions at a time of growing national discontent over unemployment and lack of housing.

Hundreds of helmeted police and paramilitary gendarme reinforcements backed by water canon were entering the town to prepare for possible further trouble on Sunday evening.
Provincial governor Yahia Fehim told Reuters: "The town is in turmoil, but it is controllable."

PETROL BOMBS

Homes and kiosks ransacked by youths throwing stones and petrol bombs on Saturday night lay in smoking ruins in the warren-like residential districts of Baba Saad and Kaf Hamouda. Ruins of 10 burned shops could be seen in the town centre.

Mohamed Daghour, a 32-year-old Mozabite, said: "My 67-year-old uncle has been killed -- his body is still in the morgue. They want to exterminate us. We are not afraid, but we are determined to defend our families and our goods." Trucks evacuated tens of families from riot-hit districts.

Tensions between Mozabites -- the name given to Berbers from the M'zab valley in which Beriane is located -- and Arabs stem from economic, linguistic and religious differences and have boiled over into clashes periodically over the past 20 years.

Residents say Arabs tend to resent traditional Mozabite dominance of private commerce, while Mozabites tend to complain they are excluded from state jobs, particularly senior ones.

Mozabites speak their own Berber language, as do other Berber groups in north Africa, and practise the Ibadi form of Islam rather than Algeria's mainstream Malekite Sunni version.

Egypt police clash with protesters after foiled strike

Egyptian police clashed with protesters in the Nile Delta city of Mahalla on Sunday, firing tear gas and arresting dozens after plans for a strike at the city's textile factory were scrapped under pressure from security forces. Angry residents demanding an end to price hikes and soaring inflation set two schools ablaze and burnt tyres along the city's railway.

Workers at the Misr Spinning and Weaving company in Mahalla had planned a strike on Sunday to demand higher pay, but security pressure and internal divisions prevented it from taking place. Around the country, plans for a general strike -- inspired by the Mahalla action -- fizzled out after the government made good on its warning to take firm action against protesters by arresting dozens of people.

Security forces and riot police were deployed in Cairo's central Tahrir square after calls for a protest there. Analysts said that even though a massive strike did not take place nationally, the call to strike was significant in itself.

"We must not underestimate the call. Even if it did not have a large effect, it's the first time such a call has been made," Mustafa Kamel al-Sayyed, a politics professor at the American University in Cairo, told AFP. He said the move "reflects a general feeling of discontent in the country."

Sky-rocketing food prices in Egypt this year have been met in recent weeks by a rumbling wave of popular discontent and unprecedented strikes and demonstrations.

AFP