Africa Union freezes Mauritania membership
The African Union has frozen the membership of Mauritania until democracy returns to the troubled country.
El-Hhassim Wane, a spokesman for the AU, said in Addis Ababa today that membership was automatically frozen if a coup occurs in a country.
He said Mauritania remains in the AU, but cannot participate in meetings or vote until it restores constitutional order.
A coup returned military rule to the desert country that held historic elections just last year, its first free and fair ballot in more than 20 years.
Mauritania won international praise for that vote, which saw President Sidi Cheikh Ould Abdallahi emerge as victor after a two-year transition to civilian rule begun with the army’s 2005 ousting of a dictator.
