Mauritanian Junta Arrests Ousted Premier

Mauritania’s new military junta has arrested the country’s ousted prime minister, who has sworn to ensure detained President Sidi Ould Cheik Abdallahi is reinstated in office. Former Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waqef, who has been leading mass protests against the new military junta nearly everyday, was arrested Thursday by Mauritanian police in the northern town of Nouadhibou. The country’s democratically elected government was deposed in a palace coup on August 6. [PE]