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Mauritania Leader Says Coup Attempt Crushed
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Reuters Monday, June 9, 2003; 1:11 PM
By Ahmed Salem
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (Reuters) - Mauritanian President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya -- who has locked up Islamists and courted Israel and the West -- said Monday that loyalist troops had defeated a coup attempt against him.
Taya, in his first radio broadcast to the northwest African country since fighting began early Sunday, proclaimed victory for loyalist forces who laid down a barrage of shellfire before sunrise to reclaim the capital from the renegades.
Officials said Sala Ould Henena, a former army officer opposed to Taya's ties with Israel, had been behind the attempt to seize power. They could not confirm reports on CNN television that the coup leader was dead.
The rebels launched their attempt to oust Taya by storming the presidential palace Sunday, the most serious challenge to his rule since his own coup in 1984.
"The patriotic forces beat this plot that aimed to end the process of development and emancipation," said Taya. "It took time because it was necessary to destroy tank after tank. As I speak, the operation is complete."
It was not immediately clear where Taya was broadcasting from.
The loyalist forces, backed by reinforcements from the desert interior, used heavy weapons in their pre-dawn counter-attack and cleared the rebels from the president's palace and the center of Nouakchott.
Sporadic bursts of gunfire continued in parts of the city, but thousands of Taya's supporters took to the city center chanting "victory, victory," honking car horns and thumping drums in celebration.
Scores of people have been wounded in fighting, but the death toll is unclear.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan condemned the coup attempt and called for "an immediate end to the violence and a peaceful approach to resolving any differences." Chief U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said Annan "strongly condemns ongoing armed attempts to overthrow the constitutional government ... He is deeply concerned over reports of widespread violence..."
GRIPPED BY UNEASE
Split between black Africans and light-skinned Arabs, the almost exclusively Muslim country had been gripped before the coup by unease over the arrest of dozens of Taya's Islamist opponents.
Thirty-two Islamic leaders were charged this month with threatening national security. Police sources said they were suspected of links to a foreign network of Islamic extremists.
Politicians linked to former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein have also been rounded up since he was ousted by the U.S.-led invasion.
Taya's longstanding ties with Israel have caused widespread displeasure in Mauritania, which in 1999 became only the third Arab League state to establish full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state.
Israel has given Mauritania help with agriculture and is also building a new hospital. Diplomats say the Israelis also provide discreet assistance with security.
Taya has also moved to befriend the United States, a change of course since he backed Saddam in the first Gulf War.
Taya, a former army colonel, won elections in 1992 and 1997 and has been expected to stand again later this year. Human rights groups often complain the government's methods are heavy-handed.
The country of fewer than three million people supports itself through iron ore mining and fishing, but oil has recently been found offshore
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