Mauritania junta pledges polls but U.S. freezes aid

By Vincent Fertey and Ibrahima Sylla NOUAKCHOTT (Reuters) - Leaders of a military coup in Mauritania promised on Thursday to hold a "free and transparent" presidential election as soon as possible, defying foreign calls to reinstate the country's first freely elected president. Soldiers ousted President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi on Wednesday after he tried to dismiss military chiefs widely believed to have supported the president's opponents in a political crisis in Africa's newest oil producer. It was Africa's first successful coup since some of the same soldiers ousted the Islamic republic's previous president three years and three days earlier, and it drew international condemnation and demands for Abdallahi's return. The ousted president's daughter called on the United Nations to open talks to restore democracy.... [read full story]