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Mauritania: Military Coup
Statement by Secretary Condoleezza Rice
Wahington, DC
August 6, 2008
The United States condemns in the strongest possible terms the Mauritanian military’s reported attempt to overturn the democratically elected Government of Mauritania and welcomes the statements by the African Union and the European Union. We oppose any attempts by military elements to change government through extra-constitutional means. We call upon the military to release President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahia Ould Ahmed Waghef and to restore the legitimate, constitutional, democratically elected government immediately. The United States looks to all of our international partners to condemn this anti-democratic action.