A 200,000-dollar check from the Council of Mauritanian and American Businessmen was handed over Monday to the US ambassador during a ceremony commemorating the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the United States.

Mauritanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ahmed Ould SidAhmed "expressed the condolences of his government and people to the American government and people for the victims of September 11, 2001 and Hurricane Katrina," an embassy statement said.

The impoverished west African country has no shortage of its own problems. Mauritania is still recovering from an August 3 coup in which the Military Council for Justice and Democracy overthrew president Maaouiya Ould Taya, who ruled for the last two decades.

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