Mauritania's ousted President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmad Taya and his family members arrived in Qatar yesterday, three weeks after he was overthrown in a bloodless coup.
Taya and his family checked in at the Sheraton hotel yesterday, a hotel source told Gulf News.
"Mr Taya is here, he arrived today. He was accompanied by family members," the source said.
The management at the hotel would not disclose further details on the presence of the former Mauritanian leader, while security personnel could be seen in the hotel's lobby.
Officials at the ministry of foreign affairs and Emiri Diwan, the office of Qatar's Ruler His Highness Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, were tight-lipped over the arrival of Taya.
AFP news agency yesterday also reported a member of Taya's delegation, Mohammad Ould Ali, as saying that Taya was in "high spirits". Ali also said Taya flew into Doha with his wife and children aboard a Qatar Airways plane from Gambia, where he has been for nearly two weeks.
Media sources had earlier reported that a plane carrying Taya, his wife and four children had taken off from the airport of Gambia's capital Banjul shortly after 1730 GMT for Qatar, according to witnesses.
Last week, a Gambian official was reported as saying that Qatar had offered Taya asylum in the Gulf state, but Qatari officials here had never confirmed the reports.
