Coup Leaders Release Mauritania Prime Minister
This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania — Mauritania’s prime minister was released yesterday as junta leaders bowed to international pressure after a coup that prompted America to cut off more than $20 million in aid.
But the junta was still holding the country’s president and said it had no immediate plans to release him, indicating that although the military is willing to make some conciliatory gestures, power remains firmly in their hands.
Yesterday’s announcement said the army-led “state council” had freed Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef and three other key allies of President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
