Haidalla trial in confusion, explosives stolen

After a two-day suspension, the treason trial of former Mauritanian president Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla and 14 co-defendants, resumed on Thursday morning in the capital Nouakchott, only to be suspended again in the early afternoon. The latest suspension of the trial coincided with news that 26 cases of explosives had been stolen from the state-run iron mining company SNIM in the northern town of Zouerate. The theft raised fears that the explosives might be used against the goverment. Presiding Judge Ould Abdi suspended the trial of Ould Haidalla on Monday after the prosecution failed to produce two key witnesses. The judge announced a resumption of the trial on Thursday, but told the court a few hours later he was suspending proceedings again because one of the prosecution lawyers was absent from court. The two prosecution witnesses had still failed to appear. Ould Haidalla is a former army colonel who ruled Mauritania from 1980 to 1984, when he was overthrown by the current head of state, Maaouiya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya. He emerged from obscurity to challenge Ould Taya at the ballot box in presidential elections on 7 November and was officially credited with 18.7 percent of the vote. However Ould Haidalla and 14 of his close collaborators were arrested two days after the poll and charged with plotting to overthrow Ould Taya by force. If found guilty, they could face prison sentences of anything from 20 years to life. Ould Taya, who has ruled this staunchly Islamic desert nation of 2.5 million people with an iron hand, was officially declared the winner of last month's election with 66.7 percent of the vote, despite opposition protests of widespread fraud. Opposition leaders and human rights activists have told IRIN that Ould Haidalla faces a "political" trial in the sense the government is determined to clamp down on anyone who dares to criticise Ould Taya's authoritarian rule. SNIM officials told IRIN that 26 cases of TNT explosive were stolen from a company store in Zouerate on Monday. They said that senior management officials of the iron mining company had been suggesting privately that the explosives were stolen for sale to an Egyptian construction company, Arab Contractors, which is building a new road from Nouakchott to the northern port town of Nouadhibou. SNIM has not commented publicly on the theft and the government has remained tight-lipped on the matter. Ould Taya narrowly survived an attempted coup in June which led to two days of intense fighting in the capital. The government subsequently arrested and charged 129 military personnel in connection with the failed uprising, but some of its ringleaders are still at large. One of them, former army major Saleh Ould Hanena, warned the government before last month's election that he would "open the gates of hell" if Ould Taya failed to run a free and fair poll. Mauritania, a former French colony that forms an uneasy bridge between Sub-Saharan Africa and the Arab world, hopes that offshore oil, which is still awaiting commercial development will save him from continuing poverty.