Mauritania: coupe mastermind arrested Mauritania, Politics, 10/11/2004
The government of Nouakchott announced the detention of the former officer Saleh Weld Hanineh who is considered the mastermind of the two coupe attempts carried out in Mauritania in June 2003 and September this year.
The Mauritania minister of communications, Mahmoud Weld Abdi, said that Weld Hanineh who was removed from the army in 2000 was detained by members of the special units of the Mauritanian army in Rosso near the borders with Senegal.
The Mauritanian authorities have been searching for Weld Hanineh since declaring on September 28 the foiling of the "coupe attempt" which was the third in 15 months. The TV was screening his pictures regularly and several barriers were installed on the country's roads in an attempt to arrest him. Hanineh was expelled from the army following accusations that he provoked anger over Mauritania's relations with Israel.
To this effect, the Libyan (prime minister) Shukri Ghanem deliberately denied Mauritania's accusations against Libya over being involved in two coupe attempts. He said "we have no links to these accusations. Mauritania pins its special problems on others." Mauritania had accused Libya and Burkina Faso of financing the organizers of the coupe and providing them with weapons.
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