Mauritania
Mauritania, 1960 to today. Draft, not yet reviewed
Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in the Maghreb region of West Africa. In the early 20th century, Mauritania was colonized by France as part of French West Africa. It achieved independence in 1960. The 2008 Mauritanian coup d'état was led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who won subsequent presidential elections in 2009 and 2014.
Seat of power: Nouakchott
Rulers
Moktar Ould Daddah
President of Mauritania, 1960–1978
He served as the country's first Prime Minister from 1957 to 1961 and as its first President of Mauritania, a position he held for 18 years until he was deposed in a military coup d'etat in 1978. His Mauritanian People's Party was the sole legal political entity in the country, and he followed a policy of Islamic socialism with many nationalizations of private businesses. In foreign affairs, he joined the Non-Aligned Movement and maintained strong links with Mao Zedong and the People's Republic of China, but he also accepted Western (especially French) foreign aid.
Portrait of Moktar Ould Daddah: Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain, file
Mustafa Ould Salek
President of Mauritania, 1978–1979
He was the president of Mauritania from 1978 to 1979. On 10 July 1978, he led a bloodless military coup d'état against President Moktar and was appointed head of the 20-man Military Committee for National Recovery (CMRN). On 3 June 1979, he was replaced as president by Colonel Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly.
Portrait of Mustafa Ould Salek: Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY 4.0, file
Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly
President of Mauritania, 1979–1980
He was a Mauritanian military officer and politician who served as the President of Mauritania and Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation (CMSN) from 3 June 1979 to 4 January 1980. Mohamed Mahmoud entered the Mauritanian army in November 1960, the year of Independence and was trained in the French military academies. On 4 January 1980, his Prime Minister, Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, dismissed him in another military coup.
Portrait of Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly: Voice of America, Public domain, file
Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla
President of Mauritania, 1980–1984
He is a Mauritanian former military officer and politician who served as the head of state of Mauritania from 4 January 1980 to 12 December 1984. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2003 presidential election and the 2007 presidential election. In December 1984, he was deposed by Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya.
Portrait of Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla: EC/Christian Lambiotte, CC BY 4.0, file
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Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya
President of Mauritania, 1984–2005
He served as the President of Mauritania from 1984 to 2005. He also served as the fifth Prime minister of Mauritania from 1981 to 1992 except for a brief period in 1984. On 3 August 2005, a military coup led by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall ended President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya's 21 years of rule.
Portrait of Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya: VOA News, Public domain, file
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Ely Ould Mohamed Vall
President of Mauritania, 2005–2007
Following a coup d'état in August 2005, he served as the transitional military leader of Mauritania until 19 April 2007, when he relinquished power to an elected government. He did not take the title of President because he said it should be reserved for elected leaders. Ely and the other members of the military council agreed not to run for president.
Portrait of Ely Ould Mohamed Vall: Denis Closon / European Communities, 2006 / EC - Audiovisual Service, CC BY 4.0, file
Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi
President of Mauritania, 2007–2008
He was President of Mauritania from 2007 to 2008. He won the March 2007 presidential election, taking office on 19 April 2007. He was deposed in a military coup d'état on 6 August 2008.
Portrait of Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi: Marcello Casal Jr./Abr, CC BY 3.0 br, file
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
President of Mauritania, 2008–2019
He served as the 8th President of Mauritania from 2009 to 2019. In August 2008, he led a coup that removed President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. He was re-elected in 2014, then did not seek re-election in 2019.
Portrait of Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz: U.S. Department of State, Public domain, file
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Ba Mamadou Mbaré
President of Mauritania, 2009–2009
As President of the Senate, he succeeded Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz as Head of State on 15 April 2009, when Abdel Aziz resigned to take part in the June 2009 presidential election. Abdel Aziz was then elected president and in turn succeeded Mbaré on 5 August 2009.
Mohamed Ould Ghazouani
President of Mauritania, 2019 to today
He has been the 9th President of Mauritania since 2019. He was elected president of Mauritania on 22 June 2019 following the 2019 presidential election. His victory in the 2019 presidential election was presented as having been the country's first peaceful transition of power since independence.
Portrait of Mohamed Ould Ghazouani: The White House, Public domain, file
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Culture
- Arabic is the official language, while Pulaar, Soninke and Wolof are recognized as national languages.
- The state religion is Islam, and almost all inhabitants are Sunni Muslims.
- Its economy is based primarily on agriculture and fishing.
- By land area Mauritania is the 11th-largest country in Africa and the 28th-largest in the world; 90% of its territory is in the Sahara desert.
Picture
Chinguetti is a ksar and a medieval trading center in northern Mauritania, located on the Adrar Plateau east of Atar.
Image: François COLIN, CC BY-SA 2.5, file
Sources
Text adapted from the Wikipedia articles listed as sources, CC BY-SA 4.0.