2005-08-05 - 6:38 p.m.

Internet has been down for a few weeks, so I apologize for not getting a hold of people earlier. Yes there was a coup in Mauritania. We are currently living in a military state. Negotiations are underway to reinstate democracy, but the current régime says that at least 2 years are needed for this to happen. The coup was essentially to remove the former president, Maaouya, from power. He has been president for close to 25 years. He has recently made a lot of western moves to push the country away from Islamists. I think that this was the last straw. Why Maaouya was in Saudi Arabia for King Fahd’s funeral a group of 6 Mauritanian military leaders seized power. As far as I know there was brief fighting in the capital, but few were killed. After there was a slight disruption when the 6 men argued over who would be in charge. The person now in charge of Mauritania is named Mohammed Vaal. Apparently The US and EU are pushing to get Maaouya back in power.

Atar is Maaouya’s hometown and the base of his constituency. If any sort of revolt against this coup were to happen, it would be from here. Talk about apathy, I was speaking to a good friend who is an enormous Maaouya supporter yesterday.
« So is the coup good or bad »
« Oh, very bad »
« So are people going to do something about it? »
« No, Maaouya was in power for a long time. It’s time to give someone else a try. »

The ease with which the whole thing went down baffles me. One can’t help but ask if it were this easy, why had they taken so long to do it. I made an analogy last night when we were sitting at the table in the regional house. The coup is like if Todd had gotten up from his chair and went to the bathroom. Then, while he was gone, I got up and sat in his chair. If he was Maaouya he would have come back, shrugged his shoulders and sat on the ground. He had had the chair for most of the night. It was time to let someone else have a seat.

In Nouakchott people are celebrating in the streets. Already posters of Mohammed Vaal have been caked over the city.

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