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A miner on strike stands in front of a burning barricade on the A-66 motorway, on the first day of a strike to protest the government's spending cuts in the mining sector, in Pola de Lena, near Oviedo, northern Spain, May 23, 2012. Spain's economy is contracting for the second time since late 2009 and four years of stagnation and recession have pushed unemployment above 24 percent, the highest rate in the European Union. REUTERS/Eloy Alonso

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U.N. regrets coup in Mauritania, wants order restored

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UNITED NATIONS | Wed Aug 6, 2008 1:20pm EDT

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Wednesday called for the immediate restoration of order in Mauritania, where soldiers overthrew the northwest African Islamic state's elected president.

"The secretary-general calls for respect for the rule of law and the immediate restoration of constitutional order in the country," a U.N. spokeswoman told reporters. She added that Ban regretted the coup.

Mauritanian soldiers earlier overthrew President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, the country's first democratically elected president, and announced the formation of a military junta.

Mauritania is one of Africa's newest oil producers which also mines iron, copper and gold.

(Reporting by Megan Davies; Editing by Sandra Maler)
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