Soldiers in Mauritania stage coup

The Mauritanian armed forces took advantage of the absence of the country’s president Wednesday to seize power, according to a statement carried by the state news agency.

President Maaouya Taya was out of the country attending the funeral of Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd and is reportedly in Niger’s capital, Niamey, on his way back from Riyadh.

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Mauritania also stands to join the oil-economy countries in 2006, when off-shore oil discoveries start generating revenues for the poor and thinly populated country.

CNN