France normalises Mauritania ties after coup, poll

PARIS (Reuters) - The visit to France this week by Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz puts relations between the two countries back on track after the July elections, the French foreign ministry said on Monday.

Aziz, who became president after ousting Mauritania's first democratically elected leader in a coup last year, is due to meet President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner during the three-day trip.

"This visit marks the normalisation of relations between Mauritania and France after the presidential elections held on July 18," a foreign ministry spokesman said at a regular online press briefing.

Aziz will meet Sarkozy on Tuesday. He will also see representatives of French businesses.

He was sworn in as president in August after a poll that opponents said was a fraud but which France and others have said paved the way for re-engagement with the Islamic state.

The International Monetary Fund said in September it was ready to restart ties with Mauritania after they were suspended because of the coup led by Aziz.

The European Union also suspended aid payments to Mauritania in protest at the coup but has indicated it may be willing to restart cooperation.

The former French colony, where militant group al Qaeda is active, is among the world's poorest countries with much of the population relying on subsistence farming and herding.

France is one of Mauritania's biggest partners in both trade and aid. In 2007 it set aside 93 million euros in a four-year aid package, only 30 percent of which has been paid.