CORRECTED - Gaddafi arrives in Mauritania, seeks political deal

(Corrects March 9 story to remove comment incorrectly attributed to Gaddafi adviser)

By Vincent Fertey and Hachem Sidi Salem

NOUAKCHOTT, March 9 (Reuters) - Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi travelled to Mauritania on Monday in the highest level attempt so far to end the political crisis since a coup in the northwest African Islamic state last August.

Last week, the Libyan leader, who holds the African Union's rotating presidency, met Sidi Mohamed Ould Sheikh Abdallahi, Mauritania's first democratically elected president, who was overthrown last August by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz.

The junta has promised polls but shown no sign of heeding international demands to restore Abdallahi to power.

The European Union has threatened sanctions against Aziz and his allies, and last month the African Union imposed sanctions.

"The Libyan leader is doing all he can to begin a national political dialogue and this visit can serve as a starting point for setting out the conditions," said Mohamed Ould Maouloud, of the National Front for the Defence of Democracy, a political alliance campaigning for the restoration of Abdallahi to power.

Abdallahi, released from house arrest in December, travelled to Libya for talks with Gaddafi last week, after which Libyan state media suggested the African Union chairman recognised the ousted president as Mauritania's head of state. On his return to Nouakchott, Abdallahi said he was keen to "pursue with the Libyan leader dialogues aimed at arriving at a consensual solution."