Ousted Mauritania president slams failed Libyan mediation

Nouakchott, Mauritania: A spokesman says Mauritania's ousted president has accused Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi of siding against him in favor of the Islamic nation's military junta during a failed mediation attempt.

Gadhafi, who heads the African Union, visited Mauritania last week to try to resolve tensions still simmering after President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was overthrown in a bloodless military coup last August.

Instead of mediating, Gaddafi called for the "the application of the junta's unilateral agenda ... which puts into peril the existence of our nation."

Gaddafi urged the lifting of travel bans and asset freezes the African Union had imposed on Mauritania after the coup. He also said the body would oversee presidential elections due June 6.