Mauritanian envoy defends coup

UNITED NATIONS // Mauritania's envoy to the UN has defended the coup that ousted the country's democratically-elected government earlier this month amid a fresh barrage of international criticism. Addressing the Security Council on Tuesday, Abderrahim Ould Hadrami, the north-west African nation's ambassador, described the Aug 6 putsch as a "corrective change" that would improve security and prosperity.

Mr Hadrami, who also represented the former regime, said Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the ousted president, had failed to "respond to the aspirations of the Mauritanian people". The ambassador criticised the former leadership for allowing "rampant insecurity" that had left tourists dead, an embassy attacked and the population of about 3.4 million living in "fear and disarray". "Also, the economic and social situation was not good. The prices of basic food stuffs were growing every day and became inaccessible to most layers of the population. Corruption and nepotism were something of an everyday occurrence," Mr Hadrami said.

The Mauritanian military staged a coup in the capital, Nouakchott, earlier this month, seizing Mr Abdallahi at his palace after he sacked senior army officers during a political crisis. Gen Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, one of the sacked senior officers and the former president's guard chief, formed a State Council comprised of 11 military officials, promised to hold elections and appointed a prime minister to head a transitional government.

The overthrow was met with condemnation from a broad spectrum within the international community, with criticism voiced by the African Union, the Arab League, the Organisation of the Islamic Conference and the European Union. The United States suspended US$25 million (Dh91.75m) worth of aid and threatened further cuts unless democracy was restored. EU development assistance is also at risk. Mauritania's new rulers were pushed further into isolation on Tuesday when Jan Grauls, the Belgian ambassador to UN, criticised the coup as "unconstitutional" and blasted the detention of Mr Abdallahi. Belgium holds this month's council presidency.

"The Security Council demands the immediate release of president Abdallahi and the restoration of the legitimate, constitutional, democratic institutions immediately," said Mr Grauls, reading from a statement agreed after consultation with all 15 members. Mr Hadrami said the new regime would seek to build bridges with the international community, beginning with diplomatic efforts to gain approval from AU members.

Although Gen Aziz has pledged to pursue democracy, he has yet to set a date for elections. And Mauritania's UN envoy suggested it was not likely to happen soon. "It is important to understand that each country has its own special features and should realise full democracy in the country at its own rhythm, and there is no need to impose a pace that does not take these realities into account," Mr Hadrami told the Security Council.

The change in leadership "cannot be described as a coup d'etat, since all the institutions of the republic are working normally and basic freedoms are preserved,"Mr Hadrami said, insisting that the country "has not turned its back on democracy". Earlier this week in Nouakchott, thousands of people took to the streets in support of Gen Aziz, and more than two thirds of senators and members of parliament have voiced support for the new leadership.

Critics within the country say the junta is stage-managing public rallies in a bid to show popular support for the coup and deflect a tide of anger from western donors. Meanwhile, a group of Mauritanian lawyers and senators has announced plans to return Mr Abdallahi to power. The ousted president last year won Mauritania's first free and fair elections since independence in 1960, taking over from a military government which ousted Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, then president, in a bloodless coup in 2005.

The largely desert Islamic country, which straddles black and Arab Africa and is twice the size of former colonial ruler France, has become one of the continent's newest oil producers. The country is also rich in iron ore, copper and gold. Mauritanians this week faced a second crisis in the form of flooding, which has already forced more than 200,000 people in West Africa from their homes, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).

Cholera has appeared in the region, and heavy rains forecast to last until September are expected to exacerbate the food crisis by flooding farmland and washing away crops. "West Africa's annual floods bring with them not only the threat of vector-borne and communicable diseases, but it further endangers the lives of people already malnourished by the food price crisis," said Eric Laroche, assistant director-general of the WHO's Health Action in Crises Cluster.

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