"Conspiracy of the two generals" .. Opposition Mauritania accuses the government of masterminding security events

Mauritanian presidential candidate Peram Ould Dahl Ould Ebeidi said the security events in the country after the presidential elections were the result of a conspiracy by the "generals".

He refers to the outgoing president Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the candidate who announced his victory in the election Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, both former military general.

Obeidi's speech came in response to statements by the Interior Minister, in which he spoke of the involvement of foreigners in the riots in Nouakchott and other cities in the past three days.

"The generals are the two sides and look at the rest of the people as foreigners," Ould Ebeidi said on Tuesday night.

The Independent Electoral Commission announced last Sunday the victory of Ould al-Ghazouani from the first round in the elections that took place on Saturday after obtaining 52% of the votes, while the human rights activist Ould Obeidi and won more than 18%.

Opposition parties refused to acknowledge the results, saying the process had been rigged and discredited.

Police and army forces were deployed on the streets of the capital to control what they called subversive activities to harm the security of people and property.

But the opposition denied the involvement of its supporters in these activities, and said that the authorities inflicted criminals and informants on the streets to terrorize people and get them to accept the false results.

Official Appeal
Ould Obeidi lodged an official appeal against the results with the Constitutional Council. He said that he visited a gathering of young people protesting the results and demanding calm and restraint, stressing that they had responded to this, except for a few groups described by the security forces.

The loser has called on the Mauritanians to "resistance within the legal framework against this coup against the will of the people," and urged his supporters to peaceful and non-provocation of military men and police.

Similar invitations were issued by candidates Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubakir, Hamidou Baba and Mohamed Ould Mouloud. But they canceled the protest march planned for Monday.

"We decided to postpone the march that was scheduled for Monday, possibly to Thursday," said candidate Hamido Baba.

The opposition is demanding the release of dozens of supporters who were arrested during clashes with police last Sunday. For its part, the Ministry of Interior called for restraint and warned against the consequences of unauthorized gatherings.