NOUAKCHOTT (AFP) — Mauritania's junta leader shrugged off on Tuesday sanctions imposed by the African Union against his regime last week, saying "nobody" would be affected by them.
"The people and the state -- I would even say nobody -- will be affected by the sanctions," General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz said at a press conference in the capital Nouakchott.
The African Union slapped sanctions on members of the junta last week, including a travel ban and a freeze of bank assets.
But Ould Abdel Aziz said junta leaders "have no accounts abroad -- neither in Africa, nor in Europe, nor elsewhere. We sacrificed ourselves for our country, to instill democracy and its values."
"We will continue our project," he added.
The junta announced last month it would hold new presidential elections on June 6 after holding a forum that was boycotted by anti-coup parties.
The June date chosen by the junta is exactly six months after the coup that ousted president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.
When asked whether he will run in the election, Ould Abdel Aziz said he would announce his decision "at the right time".
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