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By TODD PITMAN, Associated Press Writer Friday, August 5, 2005 Leaders around the world and especially in Africa quickly condemned the overthrow of Mauritania's president this week. But recent history shows coups and coup leaders often win acceptance, especially when they replace unpopular regimes and promise to bring democracy whether or not they really mean it. The 17 soldiers that announced the toppling of Mauritania's autocratic President Maaoya Sid'Ahmed Ould Taya on Wednesday seemed well aware of the best way to proceed. Hours after seizing control while Taya was abroad, the junta issued a statement vowing not to "exercise power longer than two years, a period considered essential for the preparation and the installation of true democratic institutions." Spontaneous celebrations broke out in the capital, Nouakchott, with residents flashing the "V" sign for victory and motorists honking horns into the night. Shops, businesses and the international airport in Mauritania reopened and traffic was flowing again Thursday. The quick return to calm indicated acceptance in the nation of 3 million of Taya's bloodless overthrow. Abroad, the response was different. The United Nations, European Union and United Nations denounced the coup and Washington called for Taya to be restored to power. The African Union's Peace and Security Council suspended Mauritania's membership until "the restoration of constitutional order in the country." A spokesman for Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo said "the days of tolerating military governance in our sub-region or anywhere are long gone." Dictatorships are in the minority in Africa, a marked change from a few decades ago. In the last five years, two-thirds of African countries have held multiparty elections. But there also have been coups in recent years in the Central African Republic and in Guinea-Bissau, both in 2003. Both countries have since held elections. In February, Togo's military tried to install Faure Gnassingbe as head of state after his father died of a heart attack. That move, too, was widely criticized, and Gnassingbe agreed to hold elections two months later. He won, though the opposition said the vote was fraudulent. "Many of these people who shout that they don't tolerate coups have a history of taking part in coups themselves," said Richard Cornwell, a researcher at South Africa's Institute of Security Studies. Nigeria's Obasanjo was a military ruler from 1976-79. He has since been credited with helping the country return to civilian rule, winning elections in 1999 that ended a series of military dictatorships. Accepting coups sets a bad precedent, even when the ousted presidents are unpopular, said Mike McGovern, West Africa director of the International Crisis Group think tank. Or, as Mauritanian businessman Emine Ould Mokhtar put it, coups "risk provoking more coups." Mauritania's Taya drew the ire of opponents in the deeply Islamic nation for forging closer relations with the West, letting U.S. troops train on Mauritanian soil, and opening diplomatic ties with Israel one of just three Arab League nations to do so. The United States welcomed Taya as an ally in its global war on terrorism, a role Taya took on with enthusiasm branding his Islamist enemies al-Qaida terrorists and jailing scores of them. "He used the al-Qaida threat to crack down on his domestic opponents, of whom there were many," Cornwell said. "The Islamists were not violent fundamentalists but people who believe that Islam has a place in government." The military officers who toppled Taya are led by Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, who was the national police chief since and considered a close confidant of Taya for more than two decades. "These guys have no track record as politicians. They need to be judged by their acts and not by their words," McGovern said. "Many officers have taken power saying they're going to leave power very soon. They say they'll just stay in power 'til we clean things up,' and they often stay much longer." Guinea's dictator Lansana Conte said that in 1984, McGovern said. He's still in power today. |
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