African Union “Surprised” Mauritanian Junta Rejects Ultimatum
African Union “Surprised” Mauritanian Junta Rejects Ultimatum
NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania (AFP)–The head of the African Union told French radio Monday he was “surprised” that Mauritania’s ruling military junta had rejected the bloc’s Oct. 6 deadline to “restore constitutional order.”
“I was actually surprised, because I thought that after this ultimatum the junta would call us to discuss” the matter, Jean Ping said in an interview with Radio France Internationale.
“We’ve never had total deadlock. We simply have to find the ways and means to allow a return to constitutional order,” he said.
Military coup leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who seized power last month, Saturday rejected the AU’s ultimatum for the “unconditional restoration” to power of the country’s former president, saying it wasn’t in Mauritania’s best interests.
Ping said the international community, including the European Union and the U.S., is now gearing up to impose sanctions, which it threatened to do after the Aug. 6 coup in the northwest African country.
His comments came as a pro-coup lawmaker was elected Monday to head the country’s high court, which has the power to try deposed president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi for high treason, Mauritania’s official AMI news agency reported.
The new court head, Sidi Mohamed Ould Maham, is a trained lawyer and leads a group of parliamentarians who backed the putsch.
The eight-member court hasn’t yet indicated whether it will try Abdallahi for high treason and other previous ministers for serious offences, the agency said.
