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| Troops stage coup in Mauritania | |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| The president and prime minister of Mauritania, in north-west Africa, have been taken into custody by soldiers in an apparent military coup. | 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 troops, French news agency AFP reports. | |
| Mauritania staged elections in June 2007, two years after a military coup. | 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. | 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. | On Tuesday, 48 MPs walked out of the ruling party. |
| Earlier on Wednesday, President Abdallahi replaced several senior army officers. | |
| The first indications of a military coup came as state television was taken off the air amid reports of unusual troop movements in the capital, Nouakchott. | |
| The president's daughter, Amal Mint Cheikh Abdallahi, told Reuters news agency soldiers seized her father at his house at 0920 local time (0920 GMT). | |
| Political instability | |
| Mauritania is one of the world's poorest nations as well as its newest oil producer. | Mauritania is one of the world's poorest nations as well as its newest oil producer. |
| The desert nation, a former French colony of more than three million people, has been looking to oil revenues to boost its economy. | |
| Presidential elections held in 2007 ended a two-year period of military rule - the product of an earlier coup in 2005. | |
| The elections were deemed to have been free and fair and appeared to herald a new era of democracy. | |
| Earlier this year, however, the president dismissed the government amid protests over soaring food prices. | |
| The cabinet that replaced it has been dogged by instability, lacking the support of a moderate Islamist party and a major opposition group that were in the former government. |