Mauritanian President\'s shooter apologises for incident

Lieutenant Elhaj Ould Hmoudy who fired “friendly Mauritanian official TV presented an “exclusive” interview with Lieutenant Elhaj Ould Hmoudy who fired “friendly bullets” at the Mauritanian President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz last Saturday.Accompanying the deputy leader of aviation infantry brigade was the communication director of the national staff leadership, Colonel Tayib Ould Ibrahim who confirmed President Abdel Aziz\'s comments made in a military hospital in Nouakchott, before he headed to France.
Colonel Tayib Ould Ibrahim  apologised for the mistaken shooting by the soldier from the aviation infantry brigades, which was temporarily present in a secondary street and not in one checkpoint. He said: “if it were a constant checkpoint, the President would have been informed about it and respected the instructions.”
But Mauritanian Facebook activists said the Lieutenant’s statement on the official TV was not convincing and that he was confused when the presenter asked him questions.
Observers believe the presence of the Colonel in the interview with the Lieutenant was to guide him. The Lieutenant, in his military uniform, spoke about the incident saying “On that day, Saturday, at eight, I noticed a flow of cars coming from the east. Me and some of the personnel of my unit were at ease, but when we saw the cars were alert. I ordered the sergeant to get ready with the guards, and he did.
\"They stood in front of the car, and I took a quick decision. I was in incomplete military uniform, wearing a civil shirt. I quickly returned and ordered officer Mohamed Ould Mohamed Embarek to ride a civilian car with me and we stopped in front of the convoy. At a distance of 25 meters, they slowed down and I noticed masked men inside the cars – the President’s car-, so we directed the flash lights on them and asked them to get out of the car.”
He continued “then, they turned away and increased their speed and while passing I made an air shot then tried to shoot at the tires, but I couldn’t because the car was quickly heading towards the road. I was suspicious about the attitude of the passengers when they continued their way, and when the first car passed me I was proceeding but the second car was very quick and flooded me with dust, but I was certain it was a camouflaged GX . I took the weapons and tried to inform the captain, but I couldn’t find him so I informed the assistant aviation director.”
At this point, Colonel Tayib intervened saying that the assistant aviation director reported the issue to the assistant chief of staff who consequently informed the chief of staff. He added that the Lieutenant was on board of civil car with foreign number.
Lieutenant Elhaj said that after the shooting, the officer who was with him in the Barrack ordered him to return and they did.
“I knew nothing.. but while we were on our way to the camp, we stopped another car which had stopped and the persons on board said they were the President’s guards and asked about the shooting.  So I told them that I was the one who shot at the car. They said that the car was on of the president’s cars, so I asked him if something happened to the President and they denied it. I informed the colonel, who then told me that the chief of staff in on his way to us and that I have to receive him.”
 He continued, “I took a military car and went to receive him. The first thing I asked about was about the President’s health and they said he was fine. I saluted the chief of staff and to brief him about what happened exactly as they happened and I did. He asked the chief of staff of the security to follow up the issue and we were accompanied by a group of the national security to the camp and the interrogation started. I was not arrested and I still practice my duties.”
He said that he is morally down first because he shot the President of the Republic, Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, which was exactly the opposite of what he wanted, and secondly because the command didn’t take any action against him.
Colonel Tayib said that the chief of staff heard him and sent him back to his unit. He said that the Lieutenant was precipitate and acted unprofessionally, wearing a non-military uniform and driving a civil car with foreign numbers, which are all unacceptable in the military rules, but the chief of staff understood his intentions and sent him back to his unit.
The Lieutenant stressed in his interview that what he said is what happened, but observers doubt his story wondering about the reason for the presence of the Colonel was to direct the conversation at all times, and explaining at times if the Lieutenant was going to reveal the details of the incident.
Some youth say the Lieutenant’s appearance was delayed to let his beard grows a bit so that he would be doubted.  Others said the Lieutenant’s presence in a ground base in not reasonable which they say was justified by the media official of the army saying that he was training temporary infantry. They questioned if he was was training, why was he supervising the guards.
They said the Colonel has no right to interfere because it’s none of his concern, which the opposition saw as a “play” prepared by the government to gain the public opinion.