Ely Ould Mohamed Vall

Ely Ould Mohamed Vall (إعلي ولد محمد فال; Nouakchott, 1953 – May 5, 2017) was a Mauritanian soldier and politician, president of the country since the coup d'état on August 3 from 2005 overthrowing Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya until April 19, 2007, who was replaced by Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdallahi after the presidential elections in March. Before becoming President, he had been Chief of the Mauritanian National Police with the rank of Colonel since 1987. On August 11, he assumed the legislative power.

Biography

Coming from an Arab-Berber family, he was educated in France at Le Mans and Aix-en-Provence. Later, he joined the Military Academy of Meknès in Morocco and continued to study Law, where he graduated. During the war against the Polisario Front, he was an army commander and participated in various operations until 1979, when the new The government that emerged after the 1978 coup recognized the Polisario Front as the representative of the Saharawi people and the conflict for Mauritania was considered over. Mohamed Vall became a member of the Army General Staff. After Taya's coup d'état in 1984, he was appointed Director General of National Security in 1985. During the 20 years of the Taya regime, Mohammed Vall is not known to have participated in actions of repression and deportation against the country's black minorities.

After the change in strategy of the Taya government regarding its relations with the West in 1999 and 2001 with an approach to the United States government and the persecution, sometimes founded and other times not, of Islamic fundamentalists, social unrest and increased, especially in 2003 when in June and November there were two serious coup attempts. The majority Sunni population had rallied around the opposition parties that were harshly repressed and their leaders imprisoned before the elections that year. Coup attempts continued in 2004.

On August 3, 2005, the coup took place that brought Mohammed Vall to power, according to a statement from the Military Council for Justice and Democracy.