Just a Flesh Wound

By Sir Sterling T. Noseworthy Jr. III Esq.
International Correspondent
PARIS, FRANCE - The president of Mauritania claims he was accidentally shot by his own troops on Saturday.
      He is contradicting earlier statements from his own government and eyewitnesses. They said the attack looked like a deliberate assassination attempt. President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was riding from his farm in Tweila to his capital in Nouakchott when his convoy was attacked at an army checkpoint.  Later Saturday night, Aziz claims he walked into a military hospital under his own power suffering from a minor bullet wound. On Sunday, he flew all the way to Paris for further medical treatment.  So, either a Mauritanian MILITARY hospital can't handle a "minor" bullet wound or Aziz is lying.
     A bullet has been removed from his arm or abdomen, according to conflicting unconfirmed reports.
    Mauritania is a former French colony of 3.4 million people with a history of instability in west Africa. Aziz may look like the owner of a corner convenience store with a bushy mustache and a nice business suit, but he is actually a former general.  In 2008, he bloodlessly seized power from Mauritania's first elected leader.  In recent weeks, Aziz dramatically increased security all over Mauritania, perhaps because al Qeada has repeatedly tried to kill him. So, Aziz getting accidentally shot by one of his own army checkpoints would be ironic in the extreme.
     After a little anarchy and a brief military crackdown, Mauritania has already returned to normal.  However, the poorly informed army checkpoints on the roads into the capital have been rapidly withdrawn.

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