Mauritania junta names new prime minister

Mauritania’s new ruling military junta named Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, a former ambassador to Belgium, as prime minister on Thursday, state news agency AMI said.

General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who ousted President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi last week, has promised to hold fresh presidential elections in the oil-producing West African country as soon as possible.

A broad majority of both chambers of Parliament have thrown their weight behind the coup, which followed a political crisis in which Abdallahi named two governments in quick succession in recent months before sacking the heads of the armed forces.

Abdel Aziz has been meeting the heads of various political parties this week, aiming to garner support for a new government that his self-styled State Council has said it will appoint to rule the country until a presidential election can be held.

Abdel Aziz also sent delegations to fellow Arab and African countries, hoping to explain his reasons for staging the coup and mollify an international community that has largely condemned the ousting of Mauritania’s first democratically elected leader.—Reuters