Mauritania Watch: From the Cracks
Since I'm making such a big point of covering the situation in Mauritania, it would be irresponsible of me not to give you links to a few of the articles I've missed in the last few days, going all the way back to the initial CNN article.
Mauritanians' Shifting Allegiance (BBC)
Gunfire reported in Mauritania (CNN, 3rd August)
Soldiers in Mauritania stage coup (CNN, 3rd August)
Mauritanian President Overthrown in Coup (Fox News, 3rd August)
Mauritania's PM, Cabinet resign (CNN, 7th August)
Mauritania's coup leader names PM (CNN, 8th August)
Most of the articles are from CNN, as I've pretty much covered the articles released by BBC News. Here's another article from back in June that's worth checking out: U.S. Ends Anti-Terror Drills in Africa. Part of the reason why the U.S. government is watching this coup very closely is that the former leader, President Taya, was an ally in the war on Terror. North Africa, specifically Algeria and formerly Libya, is a major hotbed of terrorist activity, as I've noted before. Taya hosted American special forces operators, who conducted drills and raids in Mauritania. A shift in leadership, particularly when Taya had been unpopular for cozying up to the West, is troublesome.
Hopefully Taya's policy of crushing dissent and the rigged elections are higher on the junta's list of beefs than the nation's alliance with the West and diplomatic ties with Israel. The interim leader, Colonel Vall, has already said that all pre-existing foreign treaties and agreements will continue to be honored. He also reinstalled the official who signed the treaty normalizing relations with Israel, which suggests to me that the council of colonels isn't planning an extensive foreign policy shakeup.
Also, several of the articles note that Mauritania is due to start pumping offshore oil in early 2006. With Taya gone, and legitimate, transparent democracy allegedly in the works, the logical move for the interim leadership isn't to sever ties with the West; rather, it's in their best interest to continue a nominal policy of diplomatic and economic relations with the West, including a policy of selling oil to Western nations. Theoretically, Colonel Vall and his associates could go the way of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, but one would hope that Vall realizes that such a move would not be in the best interests of anyone in Mauritania.
If you want to learn more about Mauritania, check out the following links.
CIA World Factbook: Mauritania
BBC News Country Profile: Mauritania
The CIA link has more facts and figures, but the BBC link is more readable. Do yourself a favor: if you follow Thus Saith the Fly closely, read them both, skimming the more trivial statistics on the CIA link and taking the BBC's "objective" analysis of the country with a grain of salt.
Most of the articles are from CNN, as I've pretty much covered the articles released by BBC News. Here's another article from back in June that's worth checking out: U.S. Ends Anti-Terror Drills in Africa. Part of the reason why the U.S. government is watching this coup very closely is that the former leader, President Taya, was an ally in the war on Terror. North Africa, specifically Algeria and formerly Libya, is a major hotbed of terrorist activity, as I've noted before. Taya hosted American special forces operators, who conducted drills and raids in Mauritania. A shift in leadership, particularly when Taya had been unpopular for cozying up to the West, is troublesome.
Hopefully Taya's policy of crushing dissent and the rigged elections are higher on the junta's list of beefs than the nation's alliance with the West and diplomatic ties with Israel. The interim leader, Colonel Vall, has already said that all pre-existing foreign treaties and agreements will continue to be honored. He also reinstalled the official who signed the treaty normalizing relations with Israel, which suggests to me that the council of colonels isn't planning an extensive foreign policy shakeup.
Also, several of the articles note that Mauritania is due to start pumping offshore oil in early 2006. With Taya gone, and legitimate, transparent democracy allegedly in the works, the logical move for the interim leadership isn't to sever ties with the West; rather, it's in their best interest to continue a nominal policy of diplomatic and economic relations with the West, including a policy of selling oil to Western nations. Theoretically, Colonel Vall and his associates could go the way of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela, but one would hope that Vall realizes that such a move would not be in the best interests of anyone in Mauritania.
If you want to learn more about Mauritania, check out the following links.
The CIA link has more facts and figures, but the BBC link is more readable. Do yourself a favor: if you follow Thus Saith the Fly closely, read them both, skimming the more trivial statistics on the CIA link and taking the BBC's "objective" analysis of the country with a grain of salt.
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