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Troops stage 'coup' in Mauritania
The president and prime minister of Mauritania, in north-west Africa, have been taken into custody by soldiers in an apparent military coup.
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed El-Ouakef are being held by unknown troops, French news agency AFP reports.
Mauritania staged elections in June 2007, two years after a military coup.
The country has been gripped by political crisis for a fortnight, after a vote of no confidence in the cabinet.
On Tuesday, 48 MPs walked out of the ruling party.
In the first indications of a military coup on Wednesday, state television was taken off the air amid reports of unusual troop movements in the capital, Nouakchott.
Mauritania is one of the world's poorest nations as well as its newest oil producer.
The desert nation is looking to oil revenues to boost its economy.
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed El-Ouakef are being held by unknown troops, French news agency AFP reports.
Mauritania staged elections in June 2007, two years after a military coup.
The country has been gripped by political crisis for a fortnight, after a vote of no confidence in the cabinet.
On Tuesday, 48 MPs walked out of the ruling party.
In the first indications of a military coup on Wednesday, state television was taken off the air amid reports of unusual troop movements in the capital, Nouakchott.
Mauritania is one of the world's poorest nations as well as its newest oil producer.
The desert nation is looking to oil revenues to boost its economy.
All this when we didn't hear from LS in a while - coincidence?
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