Nigerian federal government will spearhead sanctions against the Mauritania government led by former junta, Mohammed Abdel Aziz, Nigerian foreign minister Ojo Maduekwe has said.
The minister said this when he received a delegation led by Messaroud Boulkleir, the ousted Speaker of the Mauritania Parliament under deposed President Sidi Abdallahi in Abuja on Monday.
"Nigeria has already tabled the issue at the just concluded 63rd UN General Assembly (UNGA) Africa's Forum in New York," he was quoted as saying by the official News Agency of Nigeria.
"Nigeria will be very firm, decisive and will mobilise like minds against the junta-led government," Maduekwe added.
Maduekwe noted that the development was not about Mauritania rather it was about the survival of democracy in Africa, which, he noted, must quickly be "nibbed in the bud".
He said that Africans were fed up with some of the reasons and justification for coups by the military, noting that the military never fared better when they take over power.
Maduekwe further said that Mauritania and the DR Congo crisis were top on the agenda of the Africa Union Economic and Security Council meeting to be held from Dec. 21 to 22 in Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa.
Mauritanian President Sidi Abdallahi was overthrown in a bloodless coup by his former presidential guard, Gen. Mohamed Abdel Aziz in August this year.