MAURITANIA:Leaders of a military coup in Mauritania have promised to hold a "free and transparent" presidential election as soon as possible, defying foreign calls to reinstate the country's first freely elected president.
Soldiers ousted President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi on Wednesday after he tried to dismiss military chiefs widely believed to have supported the president's opponents in a political crisis in Africa's newest oil producer.
It was Africa's first successful coup since some of the same soldiers ousted the Islamic republic's previous president three years and three days earlier, and it drew international condemnation and demands for Mr Abdallahi's return. The ousted president's daughter called on the United Nations to open talks to restore democracy. Some residents have complained quietly, but many politicians have backed the coup.
Hundreds of people took to the streets of Nouakchott yesterday in support of presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who launched the coup after Mr Abdallahi sacked him.
Overseen by armed soldiers, crowds chanted "Long live the general!" and hooted car horns before escaping the heat.
Gen Abdel Aziz has set up a "high state council" of military officers, promising to work with civilian leaders to hold a presidential election "in as short a time as possible".
The council pledged to respect treaties and other commitments binding Mauritania, which spans Arab and black Africa at the western edge of the Sahara and has close ties with many Arab states. It is also one of the few Arab countries to have diplomatic relations with Israel.
"I vow to respect democracy, guarantee justice for everybody and resolve problems across the country," Gen Abdel Aziz told supporters in his first public appearance since the coup.
Mr Abdallahi won elections last year after a 2005 coup, also instigated by Gen Abdel Aziz, which ended years of dictatorship under President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya.
- Reuters