By Nick Tattersall
Nouakchott - The United States dropped a demand that Mauritania's ousted president should be restored, saying it was pressing the military junta in the West African state to carry out a constitutional transition of power.
The African Union said on Wednesday after talks with the junta, which staged a bloodless coup last week, that it had demanded a speedy transition to democracy and would maintain its suspension of Mauritania until this occurred.
The 17-member military council, whose seizure of power in the Islamic republic ended two decades of authoritarian rule by President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, has promised presidential elections within two years.
"The guys running the country right now are the guys we're dealing with because they're the ones making the decisions and we are trying to get them to make the right decision," US State Department spokesperson Adam Ereli said on Tuesday.
"That decision is to have in Mauritania a government that is in power on the basis of constitutional process," Ereli told reporters in Washington.
Mauritania, which straddles black and Arab Africa and hopes to start pumping oil next year, has had a series of uprisings and attempted military coups in recent years.
The United States, as part of President George Bush's war against terrorism, has been sending officers to train soldiers in Mauritania and other countries in the region to combat militants thought to be operating in the Sahara.
Washington, the European Union and the African Union (AU) among others had condemned the putsch, with US officials initially calling for Taya to be restored to power.
But the opposition and Taya's own political party backed the junta's plans, and jubilant residents took to the streets of the capital Nouakchott in celebration.
People were still driving cars round the city's sand-blanketed roads, honking horns.
"The international community had to condemn the coup out of principle. A coup is a coup. But the team that took over has a lot of support here," said one Western diplomat in Nouakchott, declining to be named.
Taya, who had been in Niger since the coup, unexpectedly travelled to Gambia on Tuesday. On Monday, Taya said he would return to Mauritania soon, urging soldiers to resist the new leadership.
Nigerian and South African envoys, sent by the 53-nation AU, arrived in Nouakchott on Tuesday to meet the military council's head, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, as well as the prime minister, political party leaders and members of civil society.
Nigerian Foreign Minister Oluyemi Adeniji, leader of the AU delegation, made clear after the talks with Vall that the bloc would keep up pressure on the junta by maintaining the suspension of Mauritania.
"Mauritania will not be restored until it holds free, democratic elections and the government that comes from those elections is installed," Adeniji told reporters.
Adeniji said the AU delegation had demanded the transition period be as short as possible and that Vall had pledged to do his utmost to hold elections quickly.
On Tuesday evening, civil servants and technocrats were being summoned by the freshly named civilian prime minister, Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar, with the aim of forming a new government which is likely to be announced on Wednesday.
Many Mauritanians dismiss the sudden interest outsiders have taken in the former French colony, saying they were silent while Taya had opponents tortured or expelled during his 21-year rule.
Taya managed to isolate Mauritania from sub-Saharan Africa by expelling thousands of black Africans and alienate it from the Arab world by establishing diplomatic links with Israel.
The military council has bolstered its support by freeing some political prisoners, holding meetings with parties from all sides and promising a constitutional referendum.
(Additional reporting by Mohamed Fadel in Nouakchott, Marie-Louise Gumuchian in Dakar, Abdoulaye Massalatchi in Niamey and Pap Saine in Banjul)