Mauritania’s first democratically elected president Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi has died on Sunday night in Nouakchott at the age of 82, APA learned from the presidency.
By Cheikh Diop
The deceased was overthrown in a coup on August 6, 2008, just a year after his election, before voluntarily relinquishing power to calm the political climate in the country.
The presidential statement said three days of national mourning has been decalred.
Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi was an establishment figure, having occupied between 1971 and 1978 the post of Minister of State, Minister of Economy in the government of Moktar Ould Daddah.
He was promoted in 1986 as Minister of Water and Energy and then Minister of Fisheries and Maritime Affairs by Maaouiya Ould Sid’Ahmed Taya.
CD/cgd/fss/as/APA