Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya ( b. 1941, n A. 1943 in Atar ) was 1984-2005 President of Mauritania.
Taya is also known by the Arabic transliteration of his name معاوية ولد سيد أحمد الطايع / Mu ʿ āwiya walad Sayyid Aḥmad aṭ - Taya ʿ, معاوية ولد سيدي أحمد الطايع / Mu ʿ āwiya walad Sīdī Aḥmad aṭ - Taya ʿ or معاوية ولد الطايع / Mu ʿ āwiya walad aṭ - ʿ Taya.
Soldier
After school he worked as a teacher of primary school. He joined the army in 1960 and became a second lieutenant in 1961, captain in 1971. The then Chief of Staff Moustapha Ould Mohamed Saleck has dismissed him because of disability in 1978 from the army. In 1979 he was brought back by the defense minister and chief of staff, Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla in the army. In January 1981, he was, now Lieutenant Colonel, Chief of Staff.
Prime minister
On April 25, 1981 he was appointed the President of the then military government, Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, prime minister and defense minister. In March 1984, the President of Haidalla him both offices even took back because of his inability, while Taya Chief of General Staff remained.
President
In 1984, Colonel Taya head of state of Mauritania, after he had sold his because that is currently running abroad predecessor Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah under the direct authority of the French President François Mitterrand and his Chief of Staff General Lacase in a bloodless coup on 12 December 1984. It was followed by a phase of liberalization, in 1992 he organized after the introduction of a new constitution elections with multiple candidates that have been forged, according to opposition. The new constitution was approved in a referendum on 12 July 1991, 97.94 % of the vote. As a candidate his newly founded party Parti républicain démocratique et Social ( PRDS ) he received in the presidential elections on January 24, 1992 62.8 % of the vote. His PRDS presented after the parliamentary elections of March 67 of the 79 deputies. In October 1996 there were 70 and in October 2001, 64 of the then 81 seats. As president, he was re-elected on 12 December 1997 with 90.15 % of the vote, with most opposition parties boycotted the election. On July 6, 2003, shortly before a two-day military coup, which he escaped almost, he appointed Sghaïr Ould M'Bareck the new Mauritanian Prime Minister. In the next presidential elections on 7 November 2003, he won again, this time with 67.02 %. Opposition and international community expressed doubts.
The Western Sahara conflict is Taya tried to stay neutral, but could not avoid hitting the northern desert areas of guerrillas of the Polisario Front were used as a retreat. In 1999, he decided, as a third Arab country after Egypt and Jordan full diplomatic relations with Israel to take.
Exile
On 3 August 2005, the Mauritanian military seized control of the capital Nouakchott and declared the president deposed. Taya was at that time on the way back from the funeral of the Saudi Arabian King Fahd and landed his plane in the Nigerien capital Niamey. On August 9, he traveled from Niger to Banjul in Gambia. From here, flew him and his family on August 22 to Qatar, which granted him asylum.