Troops on Wednesday surrounded Mauritania's state radio station and blocked off streets around the presidency palace while President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was out of the country, witnesses said.
"State radio has been off air since this morning. They are not letting anybody in," a witness told Reuters. Some reports said gunfire was heard in the area of the presidency complex. The Mauritanian armed forces took advantage of the absence of the country's president Wednesday to seize power, according to a statement carried by the state news agency. "The armed forces have decided to put an end to the totalitarian rule and take over power, and we promise to rule transparently and democratically," said the statement, signed by the "Military Council for Justice."
Taya was in Riyadh on Tuesday for the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd and on Wednesday was reportedly in Niger's capital, Niamey.
Soldiers were close to toppling Taya in June 2003 during two days of street clashed in the capital Nouakchott before loyalist forces regained control.
According to analysts, the instability in the country is a result of Ould Taya government's hostile attitude against Islamist groups despite of Mauritania officially being an Islamic republic. Islamist and opposition activists were arrested in the past and the independent Islamist weekly 'Erraya' was closed down. Despite huge popular opposition, Mauritania is also one of the very few Muslim countries recognizing Israel and allowing its embassy to operate in Nouakchott.
