 | |
| Date | 3 August 2005 |
|---|---|
| Location | Nouakchott,Mauritania |
| Type | Military coup |
| Motive | Regime change |
| Target | Presidential Palace, Nouakchott |
| Organised by | Ely Ould Mohamed Vall |
| Participants | Faction within theArmed Forces |
| Outcome | Coup succeeds
|
A militarycoup took place inMauritania on 3 August 2005. PresidentMaaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was ousted by theArmed Forces of Mauritania and replaced by theMilitary Council for Justice and Democracy (CMJD), headed byEly Ould Mohamed Vall, while Taya was inSaudi Arabia attending the funeral of KingFahd of Saudi Arabia.[1]
Aconstitutional referendum,parliamentary andpresidential elections were scheduled and the coup leaders vowed not to contest any of the elections. The military government ended with the presidential election on 11 March 2007 as promised.
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya had reigned overMauritania since he had taken power fromMohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla in a bloodlesscoup d'état inDecember 1984.
Mauritania had also seen coup attempts inJune 2003 and August 2004.[2]
The 2003 attempt had been led bySaleh Ould Hanenna, and the August 2004 attempt was allegedly led by army officers hailing from Hanenna's ethnic group.[3] Motives for the coup included Taya'salignment with America and being one of only three countries in theArab world to start formaldiplomatic ties with Israel. The coup was also motivated by opposition to Taya's suppression of some opposition parties and his occasional military purges.[4]
While Taya was attending the funeral of KingFahd of Saudi Arabia on 3 August 2005, members of the Presidential Guard (BASEP) surrounded thePresidential palace and other important ministries. Shots were heard throughout the capital, clearing the streets ofNouakchott.
The coup leaders also took control of state-run radio and TV stations.[5]
In an official message on Mauritanian television, the coup leaders declared, "The armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the totalitarian acts in the past few years of the defunct regime under which our people have suffered greatly in the last few years."[4]
Domestically, the coup had support from the population, with some in the capital honking their car horns in support.
TheAfrican Union expressed concern and condemned all seizures of power.[6] TheSecretary-General of theUN,Kofi Annan, "was deeply troubled", stating that he wanted the dispute to be resolved peacefully. The thenPresident ofNigeria,Olusegun Obasanjo, denounced the coup, stating "the days of tolerating military governance in our sub-region or anywhere [are] long gone".[6]
The coup ended Ould Taya's repressive regime, which was characterized by a make-believe democracy heavily reliant on tribal affiliations and a powerful security apparatus. It was primarily driven by the military's withdrawal of support for Taya due to his increasingly erratic and unpopular policies, especially his use of the "terrorist card" to gain Western support, which alienated significant segments of the population.[7]
Taya was on the plane back to Mauritania when the coup happened, forcing him to land inNiger. He eventually made his way toQatar,[8] and now works as a teacher at a Qatar military academy.[9]
After the coup, the African Union demanded a return to "constitutional order" in Mauritania, and suspended Mauritania's membership in the African Union.[10]
The Mauritanian military government ended after a fair presidential election was held in 2007, in whichSidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was elected. Mauritania's membership in the African Union was returned following the 2007 elections.[11] However, after it was found out that Abdallahi had opened channels of communications with Islamic hardliners thought to be associated withAl-Qaeda, and had used public funds to build amosque in thepalace, he was overthrown by acoup in 2008 led by members of the 2005 coup,[12] resulting in Mauritania being once again suspended from the African Union (AU).[11]
 Years inMauritania (1960–present) | |
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