Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya

Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (معاوية ولد سيد أحمد الطايع; born 28 November 1941) 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.

Born in the town of Atar (Adrar Region), Ould Taya attended a Franco-Arabic Primary School from 1949 to 1955.

He then attended Rosso High School in southern Mauritania.

After graduation, he attended a French military school in 1960 and graduated as an officer the next year.

By doing so, Ould Taya formally ended a declared war on Israel that dated from the 1967 Six-Day War.

During his administration, Ould Taya also began co-operating with the United States in anti-terrorism activities, a policy that was criticized by some human rights organizations.

Increasing ties with Israel and the United States served to deepen the opposition to his rule.

In 1975, he received strategic training at the French War Academy.

In 1978, the Mauritanian Army seized power and ousted long-time President Moktar Ould Daddah, in an attempt to forestall government collapse in the war over Western Sahara against the Polisario Front (1975–79).

Ould Taya was among the conspirators, and quickly gained influence within the government.

the late 1980s, Ould Taya had established close co-operation with Iraq, and pursued a strongly Arab nationalist line.

Prior to his presidency, he was the 5th Prime minister of Mauritania between 1981 and 1992 (except for a brief period in 1984).

After holding various positions in the military, Ould Taya was appointed Chief of Staff of the Army in January 1981, during the rule of military head of state Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla.

In the aftermath of a failed coup against Ould Haidalla in March 1981, Ould Taya was appointed Prime Minister on 25 April 1981, replacing civilian Prime minister Sid'Ahmed Ould Bneijara.

He held this office until 8 March 1984, when Ould Haidalla, who was still head of state, took over the post.

On 12 December 1984, while Ould Haidalla was out of the country, Ould Taya seized power and declared himself Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation (CMSN).

In October 1987, Ould Taya's military government allegedly uncovered a tentative coup d'état by a group of black army officers, backed, according to the authorities, by Senegal.

Several officers were arrested, interrogated, and possibly tortured, leading to the acquittal of only seven.

The discord between conflicting visions of Mauritanian society as either black or Arab again rose to the surface during the intercommunal violence that broke out in April 1989.

This tension grew when the Mauritania-Senegal border dispute escalated into violence between the two nations.

Even before the war, Ould Taya and Abdou Diouf, president of Senegal at the time, had been engaged in a dispute after the completion of dams on the Senegal River.

Ould Taya argued that Senegalese representatives in the OMVS had refused to create river harbors during construction, diminishing Mauritania's ability to exploit phosphate deposits.

Heightened ethnic tensions created an additional catalyst for the Mauritania–Senegal Border War, which started as a result of a conflict in Diawara between Moorish Mauritanian herders and Senegalese farmers over grazing rights.

The border between Senegal and Mauritania was then closed, and the two nations ended diplomatic ties with each other.

As the war continued, some Fula and Soninke people were arrested and executed.

Ould Taya's government initiated a military investigation before implementing a law of amnesty.

In July 1991, presidents Diouf and Ould Taya reached an agreement to end hostilities.

Mauritania grew increasingly isolated internationally, and tensions with Western countries grew dramatically after it took a pro-Iraqi position during the 1991 Gulf War, although he had received French support and aid in 1984-1987.

Ould Taya faced criticism for infringing the rights of black Mauritanians during this time, including forced expatriations.

Ould Taya's regime began a transition to civilian, multiparty government in 1991; a new Constitution was approved by referendum in July.

Ould Taya moved away from his initial support of the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein at the time of the 1991 Gulf War, and moved towards the West.

On 18 July, Senegal and Mauritania signed a peace treaty, ending the Mauritania–Senegal Border War, and on 2 May 1992, the borders reopened to all civilians.

The first multiparty presidential elections were held in January 1992.

Ould Taya, as candidate of the newly formed Democratic and Social Republican Party (PRDS), received nearly 63% of the vote, amid opposition claims of serious irregularities and fraud.

He won slightly more than 90% of the vote in the following 12 December 1997 presidential election, which was boycotted by major opposition political parties; anticipating fraud, they said that this would make their participation "futile".

The last years of Ould Taya's rule were marred by unrest within the military and hostility between the regime and the country's Islamists.

On 28 October 1999, Mauritania joined Egypt, Palestine, and Jordan as the only members of the Arab League to officially recognize Israel.

In June 2003, Ould Taya's government survived a coup attempt, defeating rebel soldiers after two days of fighting in the capital, Nouakchott; the coup leader, Saleh Ould Hanenna, initially escaped capture.

Having come to power through a bloodless military coup, he was ousted by a military coup himself in 2005.