The African Union has suspended Mauritania until democracy is restored in the West African nation where soldiers overthrew the president this week.
Tanzanian Foreign Affairs Minister Bernard Membe said in a statement on behalf of the continental organisation that Mauritania had signed up to several AU conventions that prohibit unconstitutional changes of government, including one that it ratified last month: the African Charter for Democracy, Elections and Governance.
Soldiers led by the presidential guard overthrew Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the country's first democratically elected president since independence in 1974, on Wednesday after he tried to sack senior officers.
The country's new leaders, led by presidential guard chief Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, said yesterday that they would appoint a new government to run the country until new elections.
