Deposed Mauritanian leader lashes out at Libya

Posted 03 15 2009 2:31PM

NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) – Mauritania's deposed president Saturday slammed Libyan leader Moamer Kadhafi, the current head of the African Union, for legitimising a military junta which ousted him seven months ago.

"The president cannot but express his deep disappointment and his profound bitterness," Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi said in a statement, read out by his spokesman to reporters.

Kadhafi's mediation was effectively a "de facto recognition of the putsch ... and the total application of the junta's agenda."

Kadhafi, who wrapped up a mediation visit to Mauritania on Thursday, said he backed lifting AU sanctions imposed on Mauritania's junta.

"I have assured myself that the military authorities are determined to organise presidential elections on June 6, so this file is closed from now on," Kadhafi told reporters in a reference to sanctions before leaving Nouakchott.

Political progress in Mauritania has been deadlocked since the military seized power in an August 6 coup that deposed the country's first democratically elected president.

The AU has sanctions on members of the junta, including a travel ban and a freeze of bank assets. The military rulers have announced they will hold new presidential elections on June 6.

The coup has been widely condemned by the international community.

Junta leader Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz meanwhile urged his political foes to "repent", saying they were responsible for the failure of democracy.