Khaddafi mediates Mauritania crisis

Libyan leader Muammar Khaddafi, the newly elected rotating chairperson of the African Union (AU), is mediating the political crisis in Mauritania being sanctioned by the pan-African bloc since the military junta seized power in August.

    The Dakar-based Pan African News Agency (PANA) reported on Sunday that a Libyan envoy visited Mauritania between Wednesday and Saturday to meet rival politicians and prepare a plan to bring the North African country out of the crisis.

    Ravi Medani, who headed an 11-member team to Mauritania, in the first move to seek national reconciliation since Khaddafi's election as the rotating presidency on Feb. 4.

    The AU suspended the membership of Mauritania and Guinea after the military took over the state power last year, vowing to eliminate coup culture in the continent.

    Medani met both Mauritanian State Council President Gen. Mohamed Ould Abdela Aziz and the deposed president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

    Other politicians met by Medani included National Assembly (parliament) President Messaoud Ould Belkheir; opposition leader Ahmed Ould Daddah, who heads the Rally of Democratic Forces; and representatives of the National Front for the Defense of Democracy (FNDD), which is an alliance against the military coup; and political parties in favor of the military junta, PANA said.

    Medani was quoted as proposing to Abdel Aziz to hold negotiations for a way out of "the traumatism" of economic sanctions and diplomatic isolation.

    The military junta launched the coup on Aug. 6 in the capital Nouakchott, arresting President Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf.

    The ousted president was released from house arrest in December amid international pressure for the restoration of constitutional order.

    On Jan. 23, Abdela Aziz announced the country would hold presidential elections on June 6, with his ruling State Council of Ministers approving the formation of an independent national electoral commission on Jan. 29.

    FNDD, which is loyal to Abdallahi, has voiced the boycott to the vote.

TAP