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EU rejects Mauritania govt's 'road map' to constitutional rule

Global Arab Network - - Maha Karim

Tuesday, 31 March 2009 23:58

The European Union (EU) has rejected the 'road map' drawn up by the military government in Mauritania, describing it as ''unconstitutional and unilateral''.
In a statement issued here on Monday, the EU said under such circumstances, it could not send observers to the African nation to monitor its planned elections.

It however announced that the council of EU member states would set, in April, the date for the start of political consultations with the Mauritanian government.

The consultations, the statement said, will be held under Article 96 of he Cotonou Agreement, which provides that the EU may fully or partly suspend cooperation with a partner country guilty of serious violation of democratic principles.

Meanwhile, the EU has announced its full support for the decision by the African Union (AU) to apply targeted sanctions against members of the ruling military junta in Mauritania.

It also expressed support for the call by the International Contact Group for a consensus solution to the crisis, based on "direct and inclusive" dialogue involving all political stakeholders in Mauritania.

The EU statement warns the new military leadership in Nouakchott against prejudice and negative consequences which could derive from its coup against the democratically-elected authorities.

Call for fair elections in Mauritania

According to (AFP), Libyan leader and African Union chairman Muammer Gaddafi said yesterday the fact that the military now rules Mauritania is a “reality we have to accept” but called for June elections to be fair.

“Our position is very clear, there is a new authority, new power,” Gaddafi told reporters in Addis Ababa. “The way they reached (power) was maybe unconstitutional and there was some protests, but now they are there.”

“It is internal affairs of Mauritanians in the end. There is... a reality we have to accept. We cannot change it, it is up to the Mauritanians to change it,” he said.

Gaddafi, whose mediation of the political crisis in Mauritania has been criticised by opponents of the August coup as biased, said any soldier wanting to run for office should resign from the armed forces.

“Now what we are trying to do is to monitor and supervise the election on the sixth of June to make sure that they are fair and going the right way.

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