Fast Times in Old Mauritania

Uh... I'm not quite sure what to make of this story.

(CNN) -- The Mauritanian armed forces have taken advantage of the absence of the country's president to seize power, announcing that Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall would be the nation's new leader, according to a statement released by the state new agency.

Other military officers would be in a new Military Council for Justice and Democracy, that council said in the statement released Wednesday.

The coup occurred when President Maaouya Taya was out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia's King Fahd. The president is reportedly now in Niger's capital, Niamey, on his way back from Riyadh.

"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," the Military Council statement said.

There was no immediate word from Taya, who came to power in a 1984 coup that toppled President Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah.

The council also said it would rule the north African nation for a maximum of two years and "will respect all treaties that were signed or agreed upon already."

After the adoption of a new constitution and the legalization of opposition parties in 1991, Taya won re-election in both 1997 and 2003, although election observers considered both votes flawed.

Mauritanian television, which had been off the air all morning Wednesday, began broadcasting again with the military statement, read by a woman wearing a Muslim headdress, the hijab.

"The armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the totalitarian acts in the past few years of the defunct regime under which our people have suffered greatly in the last few years," the statement said, as translated by CNN.

If the statements from the Mauritanian military are honest and sincere, this could actually be a pretty good thing. Then again, African nations, particularly African nations where the military controls everything, aren't terribly reliable when it comes to situations like this.

Here's the alternative BBC link.

I have to admit that I have a personal interest in this story, as a close friend has just been posted to Mauritania in the Peace Corps. I just yesterday filled out a post card to send to her. Hopefully everything's okay.