NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — The prime minister appointed by Mauritania's military junta which seized power in August announced Tuesday that the government is to ban all protests in the country.
In an interview with French RFI radio station the prime minister Moulaye Ould Mohamed Leghdaf was asked about a planned anti-coup demonstration next Sunday.
"I think that since May we have done nothing else than protest in this country, we are going to limit that, actually we're going to ban all demonstrations from all sides," he said.
"There is also a large number of people who want to show their support for the government and the State Council (the junta leadership) and there are protests from the other side... what we need now is calm," he said.
Ould Mohamed Leghdaf, a former Mauritanian diplomat in Brussels, was named prime minister on August 14.
He was appointed by the military junta led by general Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz which ousted Mauritania's first democratically elected president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
The coup on August 6 was widely condemned and the international community including the European Union, the United States and the African Union continue to call for a return to constitutional order in Mauritania.
The junta has promised to hold new elections soon but no date has been set.
The new military leadership has been invited to Brussels by the European Union for consultations and an assessment of the situation in the West African nation following the coup. According to the prime minister his trip to the EU was planned for between October 10-15.
Copyright © 2013 AFP. All rights reserved. More »
