The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood has denounced the recent coup in the African country of Mauritania in which the military replaced the civilian government established in 2007. According to a statement posted on the Egyptian Brotherhood website:
The Muslim Brotherhood denounced Wednesday”s military coup in Mauritania in which the President and the Prime Minister have been taken into custody and troops announced the formation of a new State Council. In a statement to Ikhwanweb, MB Deputy Chairman Mohamed Habib said the Muslim Brotherhood is shocked by the news, and that the coup signals negative prospects for Mauritania in the near future. “We reaffirm our complete rejection of military coups,” he told Ikhwanweb. “Change should come through constitutional and democratic means, not coups or riots. The people should choose their representatives through free and fair elections that reflect their free will.”
A previous post discussed efforts by the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY) to reopen its office in Mauritania, which was closed in a campaign by a previous military government which targeted Islamic associations and which forced Muslims to adhere to an official government-condoned form of Islam. After March 2007 elections which replaced that government , the new civilian President allowed Islamic associations to reform and an Islamist political party was authorized although subsequent terrorist incidents raised questions about the new government policy. WAMY is strongly tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood and the organization is highly active in Africa. It should also be noted that Abdallah Bin Bayyah, one of the influential members of the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR), is from Mauritania. The ECFR is a part of the European Muslim Brotherhood and is led by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi.