coup - government - Mauritania

France and US warn Mauritania anew

Wednesday 27 August 2008

France and the US, which have already suspended non-humanitarian aid to Mauritania following a military coup there earlier this month, said they were ready to impose sanctions against members of the new ruling junta.

PARIS - France and the United States said  on Thursday they were
ready to impose sanctions against members of Mauritania's new ruling
junta after it failed to release ousted president Sidi Mohamed Ould
Cheikh Abdallahi.  

Both countries have already suspended some non-humanitarian
aid to Mauritania following a military coup earlier this month
that ousted Abdallahi.
 

"France notes that President Abdallahi has not been released
and that the constitutional order resulting from the elections
of March 2007 has not been restored," a statement from French
President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said.
 

"In these circumstances, France is ready to take individual
sanctions measures against the main leaders of the junta," it
said.
 

Abdallahi was arrested by soldiers during the coup, along
with Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed El Waghef and Interior
Minister Mohamed Ould R'zeizim.
 

Waghef and R'zeizim were both released but Waghef was
arrested again last week after leading thousands of people in a
street protest against the coup and is now under house arrest in
his home town outside the capital. Abdallahi remains in custody.
 

Abdallahi became Mauritania's first freely elected leader
after winning elections last year following a previous military
coup in 2005 also instigated by Abdel Aziz.
 

Washington's ambassador to the northwest African country
threatened personal sanctions against members of the junta, and
said foreign governments and the United Nations were in regular
contact over the situation in Mauritania.
 

"We are now considering personal sanctions against military
and civilian personnel who are an obstacle to the return of
constitutional order," Mark Boulware told reporters in the
Islamic republic's capital Nouakchott.
 

He said no decision had been made, but said sanctions may
include restrictions on travel and overseas financial assets.
 

He said that if applied, such measures were likely to apply
to members of the 12-strong High State Council junta and
potentially others.
 

"We have not gotten to any such level of detail, nor do we
want to get to any such level of detail. We do not want to apply
a single sanction to Mauritania, but we may be obliged to,"
Boulware said.
 

The Islamic republic has become an ally in the U.S.-led
campaign against al Qaeda militants in the Sahara, and its
economic importance is growing as foreign resources companies
work to ramp up its iron ore production and small oil output.