Mauritania Seeks To Ease Int. Pressure

CAIRO [MENL] -- Mauritania, in a bid to ease international pressure stemming
from its August 2008 coup, has released its ex-president from custody.
After more than four months in captivity, the military has freed ousted
President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. On early Dec. 21, Abdallahi, 71, was
driven from a villa where he had been held to his home in Nouakchott.
"The release of Abdallahi was the chief demand of the international
community, and that has now been fulfilled," a Mauritanian official said.