NOUAKCHOTT, Sept 29, 2008 (AFP) - The head of the African Union told French radio Monday he was 'surprised' that Mauritania's ruling military junta had rejected the bloc's October 6 deadline to 'restore constitutional order.'

'I was actually surprised, because I thought that after this ultimatum the junta would call us to discuss' the matter, Jean Ping said in an interview with Radio France Internationale (RFI).

'We've never had total deadlock. We simply have to find the ways and means to allow a return to constitutional order,' he added.

Military coup leader General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who seized power last month, Saturday rejected the AU's ultimatum for the 'unconditional restoration' to power of the country's former president, saying it was not in Mauritania's best interests.

Ping said the international community, including the European Union and the United States, is now gearing up to impose sanctions, which it threatened to do after the August 6 coup in the northwest African country.

His comments came as a pro-coup lawmaker was elected Monday to head the country's high court, which has the power to try deposed president Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi for high treason, Mauritania's official AMI news agency reported.

The new court head, Sidi Mohamed Ould Maham, is a trained lawyer and leads a group of parliamentarians who backed the putsch.

The eight-member court has not yet indicated whether it will try Abdallahi for high treason and other previous ministers for serious offences, the agency said.

Meanwhile a spokesman for the former president has urged Mauritanians to protest in favor of restoring democracy.

'I am launching an appeal to all Mauritanians inside and outside (the country) to consider October 5 2008 'a day of democracy' and organise protests wherever they are,' Abdoulaye Mamadou Ba said Sunday on Al-Jazeera television.