Newsletter No. 1105
News-Analysis
August 9, 2008

 

TOKYO EXPRESSES “DEEP CONCERN” ABOUT MILITARY COUP IN MAURITANIA

MOFA issued a spare but correct statement on the recent military coup in Mauritania. Tokyo’s statement is somewhat softer than the “condemnations” that have come from places like France, the United States (which suspended all aid), and the African Union (which suspended Mauritania’s membership). No one seems to have been hurt or killed in the coup, and the former president and a few of his supporters are now under lock and key. The coup leader is General Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, who promises that new elections will soon be organized.

Not being a big Mauritania specialist myself, I don’t feel qualified to judge in detail the nature of the coup, but I have noted some interesting opinions about it.

Opponents of the coup argue -- indisputably -- that extralegal changes of government of this kind are generally inadmissible. That is the basis upon which the AU has taken action against Mauritania. AU Minister for Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation Bernard Membe, for example, described the coup as a serious setback for Mauritanians since “it robs their basic right to freely elect leaders of their own choice.” The former President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi had come to office in free elections held in March 2007 (see Shingetsu Newsletter No. 566). Additionally, it is said that the coup leaders were angry at the democratically-elected president in part because they favored a ban on political Islam. Geoff Porter, an analyst at the Eurasia Group, told Reuters: “The military’s most recent coup may strengthen the government’s response to Mauritania’s fledgling Islamist terrorist organizations… The military embraced an ‘eradicationist’ approach similar to that prevalent among the Algerian military, whereas Abdallahi preferred a more institutional approach -- arresting terrorists, trying them in court and releasing them if charges would not stick.” In this sense, it sounds like President Abdallahi was even more in the right.

On the other hand, there are also indications that the main reasons for the coup stemmed from the alleged personal corruption of the president and his family. Senate Vice-President Morsen Ould al-Haj, for example, told the BBC that the president had abused his powers: “He failed completely -- he transformed everything into a family business. He became very stubborn; he started by installing his children all parts of the government. Each of his children consider themselves himself a prince ready to inherit the country. They are a real royal family.” Another critic, writing in Al-Ahram Weekly, provided this harsh judgment: “Abdullahi is likely to go down in history as one of the most inept of Mauritania’s presidents. His political demise will set back the country’s democratic experiment and could yet be a severe blow to democratic aspirations across the continent.”

It’s difficult to untangle the truth from the distance of my lonely office in Kitakyushu, but under the circumstances it sounds like the MOFA statement below is just about right.

Statement by the Press Secretary on the Situation in Mauritania
August 7, 2008

On August 6, in Mauritania where efforts for consolidation of democracy have been under way since 2005, the armed forces arrested the President and other officials, who had been elected by democratic process, and in effect seized power. Such an action runs counter to democratic procedures, and the Government of Japan expresses deep concern about it.

The Government of Japan strongly expects the constitutional order and democratic system in Mauritania to be restored as soon as possible.