Nouakchott - Mauritanian Prime Minister Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar has picked a 24-member government, including four women but no defence minister, sources said Wednesday, three days after his appointment by the week-old military junta.
A source close to Ould Boubacar said that no members of the last government of ousted president Maaouiya Ould Taya had been included but it did contain former ministers like Ould Boubacar, who was prime minister from 1992 to 1996.
Another source said the foreign minister would be Ahmed Ould Sid'Ahmed, who in the same post in 1999 had signed an accord in Washington sealing diplomatic relations with Israel.
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His appointment seemed aimed at reassuring international critics of the coup, especially the United States, of the junta's good intentions following the bloodless coup that toppled Washington's ally Ould Taya on August 3 after more than two decades in power.
The United States on Monday backed off on its demand that Ould Taya be restored, calling merely for "a restoration of constitutional rule, constitutional procedures and constitutional practices, consistent with international standards".
And the head of an African Union mission to Nouakchott said after talks with Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed, head of the Military Council for Justice and Democracy, that he was reassured by the broad national support for the coup.
The junta has promised a new constitution for the north-west African country which will be put to a referendum followed by parliamentary and presidential elections within two years.
Neither Ould Boubacar nor any member of the 17-strong military council will be allowed to run for president, the junta has announced.
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