Coup in Mauritania
The army in Mauritania is staging a coup, and has detained the president and prime minister. The president had dismissed for top military officials a short time ago. The coup is being led by Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who already carried put a coup in 2005 that resulted in elections. The deposed government is the first freely elected by voters in decades, but that has been awash in charges of corruption as well as unhappiness from many that the president was making friendly overtures to the hardline Muslim sector.
So since it’s now an oil-rich nation with no working democracy and rumored ties to Al-Quaida, I suppose we’ll be invading no?
Added by Jason: Coups are common in many African states, a consequence of underdeveloped political infrastructure and governing systems often dominated by patronage (which makes control of the government key for economic survival for some groups). What flags such coups is the presence of elements among the economic and civil elite that encourage the military to undertake a coup. The economic schisms that cleave and motivate elites are often also present among the voting population, making “free elections” less meaningful than they appear to western eyes.
From reports I have read, the economic elements are present in this case. Thus, it is possible but unlikely that this coup presages a move towards Islamism in Mauritania. The much more likely result is just another round in long-standing power switches between competing economic/political elites.
The U.S. government has shown no interest in Mauritania’s government or likelihood of intervention.
