By Jonathan Clayton

THE deep instability of West Africa was highlighted again yesterday when a group of army officers overthrew the President of Mauritania and set up a military council to rule the Islamic nation, which is on the verge of a huge oil bonanza.

In a brief statement, the self-styled Military Council for Justice and Democracy said that it was putting an end to the “totalitarian regime” of President Maaouya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya. It pledged to rule for two years and create the conditions for an “open and transparent democracy”.

The coup was led by officers who seized the headquarters of the armed forces and the state radio and television buildings in Nouakchott, the capital.

Mr Taya, who faced mounting opposition to his 21-year rule from Islamic militants and pro-democracy advocates, was out of the country. He stopped over in Niamey, capital of neighbouring Niger, as he was returning from the funeral of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

The coup was led by heavily armed units of the presidential guard which took control of the buildings at about 5am local time and blocked off key access routes to the presidential palace and government ministries.

Short bursts of automatic gunfire were heard, but there were no reports of casualties. Last night Colonel Ely Ould Mohammed Vall, 55, the national police chief since 1987, was named as head of the ruling Military Council.

Mr Taya, now in his 60s, also seized power in a bloodless coup in 1984 and has ruled with an iron fist. Despite his once close links with Saddam Hussein, he has portrayed himself as a US ally and expressed concern about the creeping influence of al-Qaeda in Africa.

Mauritania, one of the few countries in the world where slavery is openly practised with semi-official endorsement, is reportedly sitting on one billion barrels of oil and 30 billion cubic metres of natural gas.

Critics say that Mr Taya was using the threat of Islamic militancy to clamp down on any opponents while preparing to share the spoils among his close associates, mainly fellow Moors, a tiny minority of the country’s 2.8 million people.

In June 2003, just as Western oil companies began to move into the country, there was a bloody uprising against Mr Taya. It was suppressed after several days and was followed by repression of all critics, sparking two more coup attempts last August and September.

In particular the Government accused opponents of links with al-Qaeda in neighbouring Algeria and accepted US training to help its forces to combat the terrorist threat.

Last May the International Crisis Group, a think-tank, said that Mr Taya was using the supposed threat to resist reform. Elections in 1992 and 1997 returning him to office were widely rejected as masquerades.

MAURITANIA

• Broke away from French rule to become an Islamic state in 1960
• At 398,000 sq miles, it is almost twice the size of France. It has a population of 3.1 million
• Life expectancy is up from 39 years in 1950 to 63 in 2003. Infant mortality is 70 per 1,000
• Slavery persists despite being banned more than two decades ago
• US ended development aid over its treatment of its black population and its support for Iraq in 1991 Gulf War

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