26 suspected coup plotters released

The government of Mauritania has released 26 military personnel who had been detained on suspicion of involvement in various coup plots dismantled by the government over the past three months, the state run Mauritanian news agency AMI announced.

AMI said on Tuesday that the 11 officers and 15 non-commissioned officers were freed at the weekend.

Their release followed the capture on 9 October of Major Saleh Ould Hanenna, the mastermind of a failed attempt to overthrow President Maaouiya Ould Taya in June 2003 and two subsequent coup plots which were dismantled by the government in August and September this year.

Ould Hanenna, and army captain Abderrahmane Ould Mini, an accomplice who was arrested in late September, are expected to join 131 other military officers who are due to go on trial on 21 November for their part in last year's uprising.

That led to two days of heavy fighting in the capital Nouakchott before forces loyal to the president regained control of the city.

Ould Taya is a former army colonel who came to power himself through a military coup in 1984.

In recent years, his government has developed close links with France and the United States and has established diplomatic relations with Israel. The latter move has angered many of Mauritania's 2.8 million staunchly Muslim inhabitants.

Ould Taya has accused Islamic fundamentalists of being behind attempts to unseat him. He has also accused the governments of Libya and Burkina Faso and the rebel movement which controls the north of Cote d'Ivoire of backing Ould Hanenna's attempts to overthrow his government.