International community delays Mauritania sanctions

(ADDIS ABABA) - The international community on Friday delayed sanctions against Mauritania and decided to send a mission to meet military rulers who have failed to restore constitutional order after an August coup.

"The mandate of this mission is to hold talks with (deposed) president Sidi Ouild Sheikh Abdallahi as well as with the junta chief to seek a solution to the crisis ...," African Union Commissioner for Peace and Security Ramtane Lamamra said.

"A democratic and peaceful solution that can be accepted by all Mauritanians," he added at the meeting in Addis Ababa.

Delegates from the African Union, European Union, United Nations, the Francophonie, the Organization of the Islamic Conference and the Arab League vowed to ensure that democracy is restored in the west African nation.

"The meeting affirmed the international community's plan for a return to constitutional order and its unity on this position," Lamamra said.

"It (the meeting) also took note of the lack of progress by the de facto authorities in Mauritania as expected by the international community by November 20."

The EU is Mauritania's biggest aid donor and France, the region's former colonial power, still wields economic influence there. Nevertheless, Nouakchott dismisses the sanction threat.

Mauritania's first democratically-elected president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was ousted in the August 6 coup, just hours after he issued a decree firing the military's top brass, including General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

Ould Abdel Aziz led the putschists and, since the coup, his junta has taken over the powers of the president and formed a new government with the support of a majority of deputies in parliament.

It has categorically refused international demands to reinstate Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and has failed to set a date for fresh elections.

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, attending the Addis Ababa talks on behalf of the French EU presidency, told reporters that although the AU and EU were "working on sanctions," there was progress in Mauritania.

"Some progress has been made, such as allowing the elected president to return to his village and to receive visitors," Kouchner said.

He added: "We can see how there can be sufficient national agreement for a solution to be found -- either through elections or a return to the status quo."

"What's needed in Mauritania is a return to constitutional order and to no longer accept coups destabilizing Africa. On that point, the European Union and African Union are in full agreement."

Speaking in Paris on Thursday, Mauritania's current communications minister Mohammed Ould Moine rejected EU and AU pressure.

In a separate development, it emerged Friday that ousted Mauritanian prime minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf has been charged with bringing about the bankruptcy of the national airline Air Mauritanie in January 2008.

Ould Ahmed Wagf, who has been under house arrest for the past three months, was charged with four other people and ordered detained by a judge late Thursday, a judicial source said.