(Adds quotes from U.S. ambassador, minister in Nouakchott)

By Sue Pleming and Vincent Fertey

WASHINGTON/NOUAKCHOTT, Oct 17 (Reuters) - The United States has imposed travel restrictions on some members of the military junta and the government in Mauritania following the August coup, the State Department said on Friday.

"The Mauritanian people deserve the right to the democracy they worked so hard to obtain and to enjoy the security and development that can only come with democracy," said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack in announcing the travel restrictions to the United States.

The travel sanctions were the latest setback for the ruling junta after Washington, former colonial ruler France and the World Bank froze some of their aid following the coup. The European Union is in talks with junta representatives under a process that could lead to EU sanctions.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice imposed the measures on Thursday on certain junta members and others who "support policies or actions that undermine Mauritania's return to constitutional rule," McCormack said in a statement.

The State Department did not immediately name who was affected by the travel bans or provide any other details.

"We cannot give precise lists of names because these are private matters between the American administration and the person who requests a visa," U.S. Ambassador Mark Boulware told reporters in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott.

"Elections organised by the junta can have no legitimacy," Boulware said.

Junta chief General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz has promised a free presidential election, but has not ruled out standing himself.

The government installed by the ruling military junta said Washington had misread the situation in Mauritania.

"We respect the United States, but we think that certain parties have incorrectly judged our situation here," Communications Minister Mohamed Abderrahmane Ould Moine told a news conference in Nouakchott.

In Washington, McCormack reiterated a call for the unconditional release of toppled President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi -- Mauritania's first democratically-elected leader -- and the immediate restoration of constitutional order.

He said the United States strongly supported the efforts of the African Union, which has suspended Mauritania over the coup, to resolve the current political crisis in the iron ore-mining Saharan nation, which is a small-scale oil producer.

The chairman of the AU is set to meet the leaders of Mauritania's military junta later this month

The AU has threatened sanctions if Abdallahi was not freed before Oct. 6, although several of its members in the region appear to have given tacit approval to the coup. (Additional reporting by Hachem Sidi Salem in Nouakchott and George Obulutsa in Dar es Salaam; Editing by Eric Walsh and Alistair Thomson and Matthew Jones)

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