As long as the AU cuddles the monsters in Africa, someone, some where will
take them out to end up doing the same thing if not checked by the citizens.
  While the AU is quick to blame coupists, they should be stealthy to
prevent the events that bring them about, such as, rigging of elections;
tweak their charter to intervene when tyrants are loose with the law; and I
dare say that they begin to put pressure or force dictators out.  If not,
then we can waste our time, because those that put on the sue knows where it
pinches.  What choice do Africans have if a dictator wants to preserve their
tyranny for the rest of their natural lives and at any cost, like we have in
the Gambia currently?  Are Africans to wait for them to die naturally?  I
think not.  I do not have a problem with the military forcing the Yaya
Jammeh's out and the AU and the citizens pressure them to handover to
civilian order.  If it was good for Patrick Henry to demand Liberty or
Death, to stop the British from collecting taxes without representation in
the US, why should it be different for Africans?  The US government has
forced out some of the freaks they helped groom, like Saddam, Noriega,
Taliban, etc, and the rest of the civilized world clapped for a just and
liberating act.  So, why demand different from Africans.?  If Yaya Jammeh
attempts to rig or steal the elections in 06, the AU better be ready to deal
with more crisis in the ECOWAS.  Gambians are not going to tolerate that and
we would not want any to come after the fact to preach "accept the results".
  If the AU was not sleeping at the switch, the stalemate in Guinea Bissau
would not have happened.  To send few people to monitor and have a rigged or
manipulated situation, is also a thing of the past for Africans.

The coupists know that the AU does not have teeth, just like the club member
tyrants know they can do anything and the AU will look the other way.   Was
Obasanjo not aware of the heavy handedness of the deposed leader?  What did
the the AU do during that time?  Zilch.  The AU knows that the only defense
the people have against a life long tyrant is to get rid of them by any
means necessary, yet they stark the deck on the citizens and put them in an
arena with a beast and referee the fight by tying the peoples' hand, and in
some cases both - tyrant rigs elections, and AU calls for only voting as a
means to get rid of the tyrant.  The tyrant is also a member of the club
(AU) and the people are not.  The end result is a coup at some point,
because something will have to give.  The AU must change their rules if they
want to stop coups - they need to start reigning in on their fellow club
members.  That is how you stop the cycle.  You do not break a fight by
wrapping your arms around the person without a weapon and let loose the
other with their arsenal.

Chi Jaama

Joe

>From: Last-Card <[log in to unmask]>
>Reply-To: The Gambia and related-issues mailing list
><[log in to unmask]>
>To: [log in to unmask]
>Subject: Mauritania Coup...(This Day Lagos)...
>Date: Mon, 8 Aug 2005 12:28:45 -0700
>
>The following article from allafrica.com is a good one.This is a lesson for
>both the coupists and the deposed.Its timely! The AU is not only thinking
>about those who overthrow as the burden.Those being overthrown are infact
>in most cases the real cause.
>As Bob Marley sang some decades ago.."Chances are!"
>What chances do we have ahead...Alpha Oumar Konare has a big lump to
>fry,grill,prepare and then serve. Its much more wiser for him and those in
>the kitchen of the mighty AU to avoid being mild lambs of simple
>idealism.The deposed and the coupists is Africa free from both
>"negligence"?
>
>Read on....
>The Mauritanian Coup
>
>
>Email This Page
>
>Print This Page
>
>Visit The Publisher's Site
>
>This Day (Lagos)
>
>EDITORIAL
>August 7, 2005
>Posted to the web August 8, 2005
>
>Lagos
>
>The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has been a by-word for coups and
>counter-coups since it became independent in 1960. The overthrow of
>President Ould Taya on Wednesday last week would not have raised eye-brows,
>but for the fact that military coups have become loathsome to the
>globalised village. So the volume and vehemence of world-wide denunciation
>of the Mauritanian putschists was hardly surprising.
>
>Still, it doesn't appear that the coup-makers are about to budge. Instead,
>they have proceeded to dig in, promising, as usual, to bring democracy to
>the troubled West African country in a brief period of two years. In the
>meantime, President Taya who was overthrown in a bloodless palace coup
>while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia has holed up in
>the Republic of Niger. He is apparently at a loss on what to do next.
>
>If Taya is confused, the rest of the world shouldn't be. There is no doubt
>at all that the Mauritanian coup, like that of Sao Tome and Principe, must
>not be allowed to stand. Time and again, military dictatorship has proved
>conclusively that no matter the reasons for its emergence, it is not a
>better alternative to civil rule, not the least, a democratic one. Africa,
>Latin America and some parts of Asia have learnt that bitter lesson at
>great cost. Highlighting the ills of the ancien regime and promising a
>quick restoration of democracy is usually the handy ruse of the coup-maker
>to confer nobility on his political adventurism. No sooner he consolidates
>his hold on power than he bares his rapacious fangs and proceeds to poison
>the society he ostensibly came to save. Africa is dog-tired of this
>repetitive evil and it must spearhead a global coalition to transform the
>effusive condemnations into concrete measures to kick out the military
>scoundrels, masquerading as saviours, from the
>  presidential palace in Nouakchott.
>
>All said, however, we believe that it will serve some useful purpose to go
>beyond merely preventing the Mauritanian pretenders from holding onto
>power. We need to examine the stated reasons for the coup for what they may
>be worth. Here, we would readily concede that leaders like Taya represent
>the ugly face of democracy in Africa. A former chief of army staff, Taya
>upstaged another military dictatorship to come to power in 1984. He
>approved a constitution in 1991, purportedly anchored on political
>pluralism, providing for a multiparty system.
>
>Under this constitution, Taya organised and predictably won the
>presidential election in 1992. He was re-elected in 1997 amid allegations
>of massive rigging. After surviving a coup attempt in June 2003, he was
>again elected for a third term in November that year, with even more
>glaring electoral fraud that awarded him 66.7 percent of the votes. His
>main challenger, Heydalla, who rejected the results was promptly charged
>for coup-plotting, tried and sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term
>and banned from contesting elections.
>
>Besides electoral manipulation, Taya has proved particularly inept at
>economic and political management. Economically, he ran the country's once
>thriving agricultural and mining sector aground. Today, Mauritania is faced
>with serious problems of famine.
>
>On the political front, Taya has equally proved that he is incapable of
>holding the country together. His policy of virtual extermination of the
>tiny minority tribe of Black Sonninkes has forced many of them to flee
>Mauritania, an action that infuriated the United States into suspending aid
>to the country in 1993.
>Relevant LinksWest Africa
>Arms and Military Affairs
>Nigeria
>Mauritania
>
>Against Taya's miserable rule in the past two decades, there is something
>to say for the claims by the coup-makers that they have come to "put an end
>to the totalitarian practices of the regime from which our people have
>suffered so much in the last years."
>
>Unfortunately, the military cannot pretend to be in position to undertake
>this task of national redemption. But what the coup has demonstrated
>clearly is the urgent need for the African Union to begin to give practical
>expression to democracy on the continent. Africa's peer review mechanism,
>for instance, must be bolstered to begin to address the issue of dictators,
>especially of the military brand, who conduct and win sham elections and
>thereafter proceed to preside over inept and autocratic governments, all in
>the name of democracy. Putting an end to this sort of democratic charade is
>the surest way to stopping a resurgence of coups on the continent.
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed
>---------------------------------
>Top | Site Français | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search |
>Subscribe
>---------------------------------
>Copyright © 2005 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
>Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder
>directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other
>authorized use of this material.
>---------------------------------
>Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.
>---------------------------------
>
>---------------------------------
>var bnum=new Number(Math.floor(99999999 *
>Math.random())+1);document.write("");
>The Mauritanian Coup
>
>
>Email This Page
>
>Print This Page
>
>Visit The Publisher's Site
>
>This Day (Lagos)
>
>EDITORIAL
>August 7, 2005
>Posted to the web August 8, 2005
>
>Lagos
>
>The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has been a by-word for coups and
>counter-coups since it became independent in 1960. The overthrow of
>President Ould Taya on Wednesday last week would not have raised eye-brows,
>but for the fact that military coups have become loathsome to the
>globalised village. So the volume and vehemence of world-wide denunciation
>of the Mauritanian putschists was hardly surprising.
>
>Still, it doesn't appear that the coup-makers are about to budge. Instead,
>they have proceeded to dig in, promising, as usual, to bring democracy to
>the troubled West African country in a brief period of two years. In the
>meantime, President Taya who was overthrown in a bloodless palace coup
>while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia has holed up in
>the Republic of Niger. He is apparently at a loss on what to do next.
>
>If Taya is confused, the rest of the world shouldn't be. There is no doubt
>at all that the Mauritanian coup, like that of Sao Tome and Principe, must
>not be allowed to stand. Time and again, military dictatorship has proved
>conclusively that no matter the reasons for its emergence, it is not a
>better alternative to civil rule, not the least, a democratic one. Africa,
>Latin America and some parts of Asia have learnt that bitter lesson at
>great cost. Highlighting the ills of the ancien regime and promising a
>quick restoration of democracy is usually the handy ruse of the coup-maker
>to confer nobility on his political adventurism. No sooner he consolidates
>his hold on power than he bares his rapacious fangs and proceeds to poison
>the society he ostensibly came to save. Africa is dog-tired of this
>repetitive evil and it must spearhead a global coalition to transform the
>effusive condemnations into concrete measures to kick out the military
>scoundrels, masquerading as saviours, from the
>  presidential palace in Nouakchott.
>
>All said, however, we believe that it will serve some useful purpose to go
>beyond merely preventing the Mauritanian pretenders from holding onto
>power. We need to examine the stated reasons for the coup for what they may
>be worth. Here, we would readily concede that leaders like Taya represent
>the ugly face of democracy in Africa. A former chief of army staff, Taya
>upstaged another military dictatorship to come to power in 1984. He
>approved a constitution in 1991, purportedly anchored on political
>pluralism, providing for a multiparty system.
>
>Under this constitution, Taya organised and predictably won the
>presidential election in 1992. He was re-elected in 1997 amid allegations
>of massive rigging. After surviving a coup attempt in June 2003, he was
>again elected for a third term in November that year, with even more
>glaring electoral fraud that awarded him 66.7 percent of the votes. His
>main challenger, Heydalla, who rejected the results was promptly charged
>for coup-plotting, tried and sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term
>and banned from contesting elections.
>
>Besides electoral manipulation, Taya has proved particularly inept at
>economic and political management. Economically, he ran the country's once
>thriving agricultural and mining sector aground. Today, Mauritania is faced
>with serious problems of famine.
>
>On the political front, Taya has equally proved that he is incapable of
>holding the country together. His policy of virtual extermination of the
>tiny minority tribe of Black Sonninkes has forced many of them to flee
>Mauritania, an action that infuriated the United States into suspending aid
>to the country in 1993.
>Relevant LinksWest Africa
>Arms and Military Affairs
>Nigeria
>Mauritania
>
>Against Taya's miserable rule in the past two decades, there is something
>to say for the claims by the coup-makers that they have come to "put an end
>to the totalitarian practices of the regime from which our people have
>suffered so much in the last years."
>
>Unfortunately, the military cannot pretend to be in position to undertake
>this task of national redemption. But what the coup has demonstrated
>clearly is the urgent need for the African Union to begin to give practical
>expression to democracy on the continent. Africa's peer review mechanism,
>for instance, must be bolstered to begin to address the issue of dictators,
>especially of the military brand, who conduct and win sham elections and
>thereafter proceed to preside over inept and autocratic governments, all in
>the name of democracy. Putting an end to this sort of democratic charade is
>the surest way to stopping a resurgence of coups on the continent.
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed
>---------------------------------
>Top | Site Français | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search |
>Subscribe
>---------------------------------
>Copyright © 2005 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
>Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder
>directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other
>authorized use of this material.
>---------------------------------
>Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.
>---------------------------------
>
>---------------------------------
>var bnum=new Number(Math.floor(99999999 *
>Math.random())+1);document.write("");
>The Mauritanian Coup
>
>
>Email This Page
>
>Print This Page
>
>Visit The Publisher's Site
>
>This Day (Lagos)
>
>EDITORIAL
>August 7, 2005
>Posted to the web August 8, 2005
>
>Lagos
>
>The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has been a by-word for coups and
>counter-coups since it became independent in 1960. The overthrow of
>President Ould Taya on Wednesday last week would not have raised eye-brows,
>but for the fact that military coups have become loathsome to the
>globalised village. So the volume and vehemence of world-wide denunciation
>of the Mauritanian putschists was hardly surprising.
>
>Still, it doesn't appear that the coup-makers are about to budge. Instead,
>they have proceeded to dig in, promising, as usual, to bring democracy to
>the troubled West African country in a brief period of two years. In the
>meantime, President Taya who was overthrown in a bloodless palace coup
>while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia has holed up in
>the Republic of Niger. He is apparently at a loss on what to do next.
>
>If Taya is confused, the rest of the world shouldn't be. There is no doubt
>at all that the Mauritanian coup, like that of Sao Tome and Principe, must
>not be allowed to stand. Time and again, military dictatorship has proved
>conclusively that no matter the reasons for its emergence, it is not a
>better alternative to civil rule, not the least, a democratic one. Africa,
>Latin America and some parts of Asia have learnt that bitter lesson at
>great cost. Highlighting the ills of the ancien regime and promising a
>quick restoration of democracy is usually the handy ruse of the coup-maker
>to confer nobility on his political adventurism. No sooner he consolidates
>his hold on power than he bares his rapacious fangs and proceeds to poison
>the society he ostensibly came to save. Africa is dog-tired of this
>repetitive evil and it must spearhead a global coalition to transform the
>effusive condemnations into concrete measures to kick out the military
>scoundrels, masquerading as saviours, from the
>  presidential palace in Nouakchott.
>
>All said, however, we believe that it will serve some useful purpose to go
>beyond merely preventing the Mauritanian pretenders from holding onto
>power. We need to examine the stated reasons for the coup for what they may
>be worth. Here, we would readily concede that leaders like Taya represent
>the ugly face of democracy in Africa. A former chief of army staff, Taya
>upstaged another military dictatorship to come to power in 1984. He
>approved a constitution in 1991, purportedly anchored on political
>pluralism, providing for a multiparty system.
>
>Under this constitution, Taya organised and predictably won the
>presidential election in 1992. He was re-elected in 1997 amid allegations
>of massive rigging. After surviving a coup attempt in June 2003, he was
>again elected for a third term in November that year, with even more
>glaring electoral fraud that awarded him 66.7 percent of the votes. His
>main challenger, Heydalla, who rejected the results was promptly charged
>for coup-plotting, tried and sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term
>and banned from contesting elections.
>
>Besides electoral manipulation, Taya has proved particularly inept at
>economic and political management. Economically, he ran the country's once
>thriving agricultural and mining sector aground. Today, Mauritania is faced
>with serious problems of famine.
>
>On the political front, Taya has equally proved that he is incapable of
>holding the country together. His policy of virtual extermination of the
>tiny minority tribe of Black Sonninkes has forced many of them to flee
>Mauritania, an action that infuriated the United States into suspending aid
>to the country in 1993.
>Relevant LinksWest Africa
>Arms and Military Affairs
>Nigeria
>Mauritania
>
>Against Taya's miserable rule in the past two decades, there is something
>to say for the claims by the coup-makers that they have come to "put an end
>to the totalitarian practices of the regime from which our people have
>suffered so much in the last years."
>
>Unfortunately, the military cannot pretend to be in position to undertake
>this task of national redemption. But what the coup has demonstrated
>clearly is the urgent need for the African Union to begin to give practical
>expression to democracy on the continent. Africa's peer review mechanism,
>for instance, must be bolstered to begin to address the issue of dictators,
>especially of the military brand, who conduct and win sham elections and
>thereafter proceed to preside over inept and autocratic governments, all in
>the name of democracy. Putting an end to this sort of democratic charade is
>the surest way to stopping a resurgence of coups on the continent.
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed
>---------------------------------
>Top | Site Français | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search |
>Subscribe
>---------------------------------
>Copyright © 2005 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
>Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder
>directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other
>authorized use of this material.
>---------------------------------
>Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.
>---------------------------------
>
>---------------------------------
>var bnum=new Number(Math.floor(99999999 *
>Math.random())+1);document.write("");
>The Mauritanian Coup
>
>
>Email This Page
>
>Print This Page
>
>Visit The Publisher's Site
>
>This Day (Lagos)
>
>EDITORIAL
>August 7, 2005
>Posted to the web August 8, 2005
>
>Lagos
>
>The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has been a by-word for coups and
>counter-coups since it became independent in 1960. The overthrow of
>President Ould Taya on Wednesday last week would not have raised eye-brows,
>but for the fact that military coups have become loathsome to the
>globalised village. So the volume and vehemence of world-wide denunciation
>of the Mauritanian putschists was hardly surprising.
>
>Still, it doesn't appear that the coup-makers are about to budge. Instead,
>they have proceeded to dig in, promising, as usual, to bring democracy to
>the troubled West African country in a brief period of two years. In the
>meantime, President Taya who was overthrown in a bloodless palace coup
>while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia has holed up in
>the Republic of Niger. He is apparently at a loss on what to do next.
>
>If Taya is confused, the rest of the world shouldn't be. There is no doubt
>at all that the Mauritanian coup, like that of Sao Tome and Principe, must
>not be allowed to stand. Time and again, military dictatorship has proved
>conclusively that no matter the reasons for its emergence, it is not a
>better alternative to civil rule, not the least, a democratic one. Africa,
>Latin America and some parts of Asia have learnt that bitter lesson at
>great cost. Highlighting the ills of the ancien regime and promising a
>quick restoration of democracy is usually the handy ruse of the coup-maker
>to confer nobility on his political adventurism. No sooner he consolidates
>his hold on power than he bares his rapacious fangs and proceeds to poison
>the society he ostensibly came to save. Africa is dog-tired of this
>repetitive evil and it must spearhead a global coalition to transform the
>effusive condemnations into concrete measures to kick out the military
>scoundrels, masquerading as saviours, from the
>  presidential palace in Nouakchott.
>
>All said, however, we believe that it will serve some useful purpose to go
>beyond merely preventing the Mauritanian pretenders from holding onto
>power. We need to examine the stated reasons for the coup for what they may
>be worth. Here, we would readily concede that leaders like Taya represent
>the ugly face of democracy in Africa. A former chief of army staff, Taya
>upstaged another military dictatorship to come to power in 1984. He
>approved a constitution in 1991, purportedly anchored on political
>pluralism, providing for a multiparty system.
>
>Under this constitution, Taya organised and predictably won the
>presidential election in 1992. He was re-elected in 1997 amid allegations
>of massive rigging. After surviving a coup attempt in June 2003, he was
>again elected for a third term in November that year, with even more
>glaring electoral fraud that awarded him 66.7 percent of the votes. His
>main challenger, Heydalla, who rejected the results was promptly charged
>for coup-plotting, tried and sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term
>and banned from contesting elections.
>
>Besides electoral manipulation, Taya has proved particularly inept at
>economic and political management. Economically, he ran the country's once
>thriving agricultural and mining sector aground. Today, Mauritania is faced
>with serious problems of famine.
>
>On the political front, Taya has equally proved that he is incapable of
>holding the country together. His policy of virtual extermination of the
>tiny minority tribe of Black Sonninkes has forced many of them to flee
>Mauritania, an action that infuriated the United States into suspending aid
>to the country in 1993.
>Relevant LinksWest Africa
>Arms and Military Affairs
>Nigeria
>Mauritania
>
>Against Taya's miserable rule in the past two decades, there is something
>to say for the claims by the coup-makers that they have come to "put an end
>to the totalitarian practices of the regime from which our people have
>suffered so much in the last years."
>
>Unfortunately, the military cannot pretend to be in position to undertake
>this task of national redemption. But what the coup has demonstrated
>clearly is the urgent need for the African Union to begin to give practical
>expression to democracy on the continent. Africa's peer review mechanism,
>for instance, must be bolstered to begin to address the issue of dictators,
>especially of the military brand, who conduct and win sham elections and
>thereafter proceed to preside over inept and autocratic governments, all in
>the name of democracy. Putting an end to this sort of democratic charade is
>the surest way to stopping a resurgence of coups on the continent.
>
>
>---------------------------------
>Make allAfrica.com your home page | RSS Feed
>---------------------------------
>Top | Site Français | Site Guide | Who We Are | Advertising | Search |
>Subscribe
>---------------------------------
>Copyright © 2005 This Day. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica
>Global Media (allAfrica.com). Click here to contact the copyright holder
>directly for corrections -- or for permission to republish or make other
>authorized use of this material.
>---------------------------------
>Questions or Comments? Contact us. Read our Privacy Statement.
>---------------------------------
>
>---------------------------------
>var bnum=new Number(Math.floor(99999999 *
>Math.random())+1);document.write("");
>The Mauritanian Coup
>
>
>Email This Page
>
>Print This Page
>
>Visit The Publisher's Site
>
>This Day (Lagos)
>
>EDITORIAL
>August 7, 2005
>Posted to the web August 8, 2005
>
>Lagos
>
>The Islamic Republic of Mauritania has been a by-word for coups and
>counter-coups since it became independent in 1960. The overthrow of
>President Ould Taya on Wednesday last week would not have raised eye-brows,
>but for the fact that military coups have become loathsome to the
>globalised village. So the volume and vehemence of world-wide denunciation
>of the Mauritanian putschists was hardly surprising.
>
>Still, it doesn't appear that the coup-makers are about to budge. Instead,
>they have proceeded to dig in, promising, as usual, to bring democracy to
>the troubled West African country in a brief period of two years. In the
>meantime, President Taya who was overthrown in a bloodless palace coup
>while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia has holed up in
>the Republic of Niger. He is apparently at a loss on what to do next.
>
>If Taya is confused, the rest of the world shouldn't be. There is no doubt
>at all that the Mauritanian coup, like that of Sao Tome and Principe, must
>not be allowed to stand. Time and again, military dictatorship has proved
>conclusively that no matter the reasons for its emergence, it is not a
>better alternative to civil rule, not the least, a democratic one. Africa,
>Latin America and some parts of Asia have learnt that bitter lesson at
>great cost. Highlighting the ills of the ancien regime and promising a
>quick restoration of democracy is usually the handy ruse of the coup-maker
>to confer nobility on his political adventurism. No sooner he consolidates
>his hold on power than he bares his rapacious fangs and proceeds to poison
>the society he ostensibly came to save. Africa is dog-tired of this
>repetitive evil and it must spearhead a global coalition to transform the
>effusive condemnations into concrete measures to kick out the military
>scoundrels, masquerading as saviours, from the
>  presidential palace in Nouakchott.
>
>All said, however, we believe that it will serve some useful purpose to go
>beyond merely preventing the Mauritanian pretenders from holding onto
>power. We need to examine the stated reasons for the coup for what they may
>be worth. Here, we would readily concede that leaders like Taya represent
>the ugly face of democracy in Africa. A former chief of army staff, Taya
>upstaged another military dictatorship to come to power in 1984. He
>approved a constitution in 1991, purportedly anchored on political
>pluralism, providing for a multiparty system.
>
>Under this constitution, Taya organised and predictably won the
>presidential election in 1992. He was re-elected in 1997 amid allegations
>of massive rigging. After surviving a coup attempt in June 2003, he was
>again elected for a third term in November that year, with even more
>glaring electoral fraud that awarded him 66.7 percent of the votes. His
>main challenger, Heydalla, who rejected the results was promptly charged
>for coup-plotting, tried and sentenced to a five-year suspended jail term
>and banned from contesting elections.
>
>Besides electoral manipulation, Taya has proved particularly inept at
>economic and political management. Economically, he ran the country's once
>thriving agricultural and mining sector aground. Today, Mauritania is faced
>with serious problems of famine.
>
>On the political front, Taya has equally proved that he is incapable of
>holding the country together. His policy of virtual extermination of the
>tiny minority tribe of Black Sonninkes has forced many of them to flee
>Mauritania, an action that infuriated the United States into suspending aid
>to the country in 1993.
>Relevant LinksWest Africa
>Arms and Military Affairs
>Nigeria
>Mauritania
>
>Against Taya's miserable rule in the past two decades, there is something
>to say for the claims by the coup-makers that they have come to "put an end
>to the totalitarian practices of the regime from which our people have
>suffered so much in the last years."
>
>Unfortunately, the military cannot pretend to be in position to undertake
>this task of national redemption. But what the coup has demonstrated
>clearly is the urgent need for the African Union to begin to give practical
>expression to democracy on the continent. Africa's peer review mechanism,
>for instance, must be bolstered to begin to address the issue of dictators,
>especially of the military brand, who conduct and win sham elections and
>thereafter proceed to preside over inept and autocratic governments, all in
>the name of democracy. Putting an end to this sort of democratic charade is
>the surest way to stopping a resurgence of coups on the continent.
>
>
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