Abdallahi: no deal with Mauritanian junta

 
Ousted Mauritanian president says did not promise nor did he meet with junta after his overthrow.

 
NOUAKCHOTT - Mauritania's deposed president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi denied Thursday assertions by the junta he had agreed to withdraw from politics.

"I did not make any promises with them (the coup leaders), I have not met with any of them since the putsch," he said at a news conference after junta representatives visited him on Thursday.

Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was moved Thursday from the capital, where he was held under house arrest since the August 6 coup, to his home village of Lemden some 190 kilometres (110 miles) away.

"I told them my transfer to Lemden doesn't change anything in my situation as I remain a president under house arrest," said Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

The Communications Ministry said Ould Cheikh Abdallahi had agreed to withdraw from politics.

The European Union, threatening sanctions, has given the junta until November 20 to free Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and restore constitutional rule. The coup by the military has been widely condemned by the international community.

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