The United States condemned Wednesday's coup in Mauritania and was in talks with the African Union to mount a formal opposition to the military's overthrow of the country's democratic government. “We condemn, in the strongest possible terms, the Mauritanian military's overthrow of the democratically elected government of Mauritania,” said Gonzalo Gallegos, a State Department spokesman. “We call on the military to release the president and the prime minister and to restore the legitimate, constitutional, democratically elected government immediately.” Asked whether Washington was involved in any diplomatic efforts to reverse the consequences of the coup, Gallegos replied, “we've condemned the event. We're communicating this to the African Union. We look to members of the African Union as well as other countries around the world to speak out against this action.” Gallegos added that the capital, Nouakchott, was reportedly calm, with no reports of violence, and that the U.S. embassy there remained open.
