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Date | 3 August 2005 |
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Location | Nouakchott, Mauritania |
Type | Military coup |
Motive | Regime change |
Target | Presidential Palace, Nouakchott |
Organised by | Ely Ould Mohamed Vall |
Participants | Faction within the Armed Forces |
Outcome | Coup succeeds
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A military coup took place in Mauritania on 3 August 2005. President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya was ousted by the Armed Forces of Mauritania and replaced by the Military Council for Justice and Democracy (CMJD), headed by Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, while Taya was in Saudi Arabia attending the funeral of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia. [1]
A constitutional referendum, parliamentary and presidential elections were scheduled and the coup leaders vowed not to contest any of the elections. The military government ended with the presidential election on 11 March 2007 as promised.
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya had reigned over Mauritania since he had taken power from Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla in a bloodless coup d'état in December 1984.
Mauritania had also seen coup attempts in June 2003 and August 2004. [2]
The 2003 attempt had been led by Saleh Ould Hanenna, and the August 2004 attempt was allegedly led by army officers hailing from Hanenna's ethnic group. [3] Motives for the coup included Taya's alignment with America and being one of only three countries in the Arab world to start formal diplomatic ties with Israel. The coup was also motivated by opposition to Taya's suppression of some opposition parties and his occasional military purges. [4]
While Taya was attending the funeral of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia on 3 August 2005, members of the Presidential Guard (BASEP) surrounded the Presidential palace and other important ministries. Shots were heard throughout the capital, clearing the streets of Nouakchott.
The coup leaders also took control of state-run radio and TV stations. [5]
In an official message on Mauritanian television, the coup leaders declared, "The armed forces and security forces have unanimously decided to put a definitive end to the totalitarian acts in the past few years of the defunct regime under which our people have suffered greatly in the last few years." [4]
Domestically, the coup had support from the population, with some in the capital honking their car horns in support.
The African Union expressed concern and condemned all seizures of power. [6] The Secretary-General of the UN, Kofi Annan, "was deeply troubled", stating that he wanted the dispute to be resolved peacefully. The then President of Nigeria, Olusegun Obasanjo, denounced the coup, stating "the days of tolerating military governance in our sub-region or anywhere [are] long gone". [6]
The coup ended Ould Taya's repressive regime, which was characterized by a make-believe democracy heavily reliant on tribal affiliations and a powerful security apparatus. It was primarily driven by the military's withdrawal of support for Taya due to his increasingly erratic and unpopular policies, especially his use of the "terrorist card" to gain Western support, which alienated significant segments of the population. [7]
Taya was on the plane back to Mauritania when the coup happened, forcing him to land in Niger. He eventually made his way to Qatar, [8] and now works as a teacher at a Qatar military academy. [9]
After the coup, the African Union demanded a return to "constitutional order" in Mauritania, and suspended Mauritania's membership in the African Union. [10]
The Mauritanian military government ended after a fair presidential election was held in 2007, in which Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was elected. Mauritania's membership in the African Union was returned following the 2007 elections. [11] However, after it was found out that Abdallahi had opened channels of communications with Islamic hardliners thought to be associated with Al-Qaeda, and had used public funds to build a mosque in the palace, he was overthrown by a coup in 2008 led by members of the 2005 coup, [12] resulting in Mauritania being once again suspended from the African Union (AU). [11]
The original inhabitants of Mauritania were the Bafour, presumably a Mande ethnic group, connected to the contemporary Arabized minor social group of Imraguen ("fishermen") on the Atlantic coast.
Mauritania is a presidential democracy, but has suffered from repeated military coups since its Independence in November 1960. For 18 years after independence, Mauritania was a one-party state under Moktar Ould Daddah. This was followed by decades of military rule. The first fully democratic presidential election in Mauritania occurred on 11 March 2007, which marked a transfer from military to civilian rule following the military coup in 2005. The election was won by Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, who was ousted by another military coup in 2008 and replaced by general Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz. Mauretania underwent its first peaceful transition of power after the 2019 presidential election, although this was between two presidents of the ruling UPR party and former army generals.
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is a Mauritanian military officer who served as the President of Mauritania from 1984 to 2005. During his presidency, he pursued policies of Arab nationalism while deepening ties with the United States.
The Union for Democracy and Progress is a political party in Mauritania. The UDP is led by Naha Mint Mouknass. As of 2023, the UDP has 10 seats in the National Assembly of Mauritania.
Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah was the head of state of Mauritania from 4 January 1980 to 12 December 1984.
Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was a Mauritanian political and military figure. 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.
The Military Council for Justice and Democracy was a supreme political body of Mauritania. It served as the country's interim government following the coup d'état which ousted the President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya on 3 August 2005. It was led by the former Director of the national police force, Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall. After seizing power, it quickly pledged to hold elections within two years and promised that none of its own members would run.
Sidi Mohamed Ould Boubacar is a Mauritanian politician who was Prime Minister of Mauritania, twice, from 1992 to 1996 and again from 2005 to 2007.
Presidential elections were held in Mauritania on 11 March 2007. As no candidate received a majority of the votes, a second round was held on 25 March between the top two candidates, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi and Ahmed Ould Daddah. Abdallahi won the second round with about 53% of the vote and took office in April.
Ahmed Ould Daddah is a Mauritanian economist and a politician. He is a half-brother of Moktar Ould Daddah, the first President of Mauritania, and belongs to the Marabout Ouled Birri tribe. He is currently the President of the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) and was designated as the official Leader of the opposition following the 2007 presidential election, in which he placed second.
Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was a Mauritanian politician who was President of Mauritania from 2007 to 2008. He served in the government during the 1970s, and after a long period of absence from politics 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.
Saleh Ould Hanenna is a former Mauritanian soldier and political figure.
The People's Progressive Alliance is a small political party in Mauritania.
In December 1984, Haidallah was deposed by Colonel Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, who, while retaining tight military control, relaxed the political climate. Ould Taya moderated Mauritania's previous pro-Algerian stance, and re-established ties with Morocco during the late 1980s. He deepened these ties during the late 1990s and early 2000s as part of Mauritania's drive to attract support from Western states and Western-aligned Arab states. Mauritania has not rescinded its recognition of Polisario's Western Saharan exile government and remains on good terms with Algeria. Its position on the Western Sahara conflict has been, since the 1980s, one of strict neutrality.
The 2008 Mauritanian coup d'état was a military coup that took place in Mauritania on August 6, 2008, when President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was ousted from power by the Armed Forces of Mauritania, led by a group of high-ranking generals he had dismissed from office earlier that day.
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is a retired Mauritanian military officer and politician who served as the 8th president of Mauritania from 2009 to 2019.
Presidential elections were held in Mauritania on 18 July 2009. Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who led the 2008 coup d'état, won a narrow first-round majority in the election, according to official results. A second round, if necessary, would have been held on 1 August 2009.
Presidential elections were held in Mauritania on 21 June 2014, with a second round planned for 5 July if no candidate received more than 50% of the vote. The result was a first round victory for incumbent President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz of the Union for the Republic, who received 82% of the vote. Most of the opposition parties boycotted the election.
The 2003 Mauritanian coup d'état attempt was a violent military coup attempt in Mauritania which took place on 8–9 June 2003.
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