This country profile was published in November 2008 in our annual 'Africa in 2009' issue. The next edition, 'Africa in 2010' will be on sale 23 November 2009.

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Little over a year after atoning for an earlier coup d'état by allowing elections, the military resumed its familiar business of running the country on 6 August 2008, when two units of the presidential security battalion (PSB) arrested President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi as he ate breakfast with his family. The consensual Sidi, whom 52% of the electorate voted for in March 2007 in the hopes of ending the country's 30 years of military rule, was put under house arrest, while key members of his cabinet were detained to make way for an 11-member 'High Council of State' under General Ould Abdelaziz, the head of the PSB, whom Sidi was trying to force into retirement.

In contrast to the previous coup of 3 August 2005 - in which Abdelaziz had helped to bring to an end the authoritarian and dictatorial regime of Colonel Maaouya Ould Taya, in power since 1984 - the latest intervention threw out a transparently-elected president who was committed to individual rights and the rule of law. Sidi's democratic credentials and economic reforms had won the international community's support.
It seems democracy will not be given much of a chance to take hold. In apparent revenge for Sidi's attempts to shut the military out of power, Abdelaziz and army chief General Ould Ghazouani have been applying heavy pressure on members of parliament to support their tactic of making Sidi resign in a way that would legitimise their actions. Their arguments are based on the persistence of corruption under Sidi's government and its 'incapacity' to deal with the economic crisis - which is indeed becoming severe in a country that imports 70% of its food needs.

While demonstrations have been held in support of both sides, the junta has kept parliament functioning and named Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, a former ambassador to the EU, as prime minister. But a country that is so heavily dependent on outside aid cannot function in a vacuum. Foreign condemnation of the coup has been trenchant, and the pressure stepped up. France and the US have frozen non-humanitarian aid, the World Bank has suspended projects worth $175m, the EU has not released money from its recently-negotiated $400m fishing deal and the AU has suspended the country from membership.

For the UN, EU and AU, the military will first have to restore Sidi to power before any other solution - such as naming a consensus premier and organising new presidential polls - can be considered. The junta has not been listening. Although Abdelaziz has gone so far as to say that a presidential election will be held and that Sidi will be freed, he does not want Sidi back in power. Having convinced himself that he was right to 'save' the country, the only card that the coup leader can play with the international community is the show of support he has won from the country's divided parliament.

Before the coup, the economy was seen to be heading towards recovery on the basis of strong financial support for the government's reforms, with a forecast of real GDP growth of 5% in 2008. The collapse of donor support following the coup makes the outcome highly uncertain; a looming balance of payments crisis threatens the government's ability to ensure food supplies. Humanitarian aid may soon be the only source of outside support.