LISBON, Aug. 6 (Xinhua) -- Portugal Wednesday told its citizens in Mauritania to go to the French embassy there in case they need assistance after the coup in Mauritania.

    "We have been contacted by Portuguese citizens who are on vacation in Mauritania at the moment," according to State Secretary for Communities Antonio Braga.

    "They told us that the situation in Mauritania is very calm and that they are sober," Braga said.

    "Portuguese embassy in Senegal's capital city of Dakar contacted their French counterpart in Mauritania, asking them to help Portuguese (tourists and workers) there," he added.

    Among all the embassies of European Union members in Mauritania, the French one is the best located, Braga said.

    The Mauritanian military Wednesday staged a coup in the capital city Nouakchott, arresting the president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Prime Minister Yahya Ould Ahmed Waghf.

    Forty-eight legislators of the ruling party resigned Monday in the middle of a severe political crisis in Mauritania.