Col. Mustafa Ould Salek ( ar, المصطفى ولد محمد السالك; ‎ 1936 – 18 December 2012) was the President of Mauritania from 1978 through 1979.

Biography

Mustafa Ould Salek was appointed army commander by longtime

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...

Moktar Ould Daddah in February 1978, as the country faced dire economic crisis and was failing to contain the

Polisario Front The Polisario Front, Frente Polisario, Frelisario or simply Polisario, from the Spanish abbreviation of (Popular Front for the Liberation of Saguia el-Hamra and Río de Oro), (in ar, rtl=yes, الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير الس� ...

's Sahrawi

guerrillas Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tacti ...

after invading Western Sahara in 1975 in alliance with Morocco. On July 10, 1978, Ould Salek led a military

coup d'état A coup d'état (; French for 'stroke of state'), also known as a coup or overthrow, is a seizure and removal of a government and its powers. Typically, it is an illegal seizure of power by a political faction, politician, cult, rebel group, m ...

against President Daddah, and was appointed head of the 20-man

junta Junta may refer to: Government and military * Junta (governing body) (from Spanish), the name of various historical and current governments and governing institutions, including civil ones ** Military junta, one form of junta, government led by a ...

, the

Military Committee for National Recovery The Military Committee for National Recovery ( ar, المجلس العسكري للإنعاش الوطني; french: Comité Militaire de Redressement National, CMRN) was a short-lived military government of Mauritania after the coup d'état that ...

(CMRN) that was to rule the country. He died in a Paris hospital aged 76. Seen as pro-

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

and careful not to break his country's alliance with Morocco, he failed to make peace with the Polisario (which had reacted to Daddah's downfall by entering into a unilateral

ceasefire A ceasefire (also known as a truce or armistice), also spelled cease fire (the antonym of 'open fire'), is a temporary stoppage of a war in which each side agrees with the other to suspend aggressive actions. Ceasefires may be between state ac ...

on the assumption that Mauritania would want to withdraw peacefully from the conflict). He also failed to address racial tension between southern Mauritanian Blacks and the northern

Arab The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...

Moors The term Moor, derived from the ancient Mauri, is an exonym first used by Christian Europeans to designate the Muslim inhabitants of the Maghreb, the Iberian Peninsula, Sicily and Malta during the Middle Ages. Moors are not a distinc ...

, discriminating heavily in favour of the latter group, of which he was himself a member. Consequently, he became increasingly isolated within the regime. On April 6, 1979, a second coup by Colonels Ahmed Ould Bouceif and Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla reduced Ould Salek to a figurehead President in the replacement junta, the 24-man

Military Committee for National Salvation The Military Committee for National Salvation ( ar, المجلس العسكري للخلاص الوطني; french: Comité Militaire de Salut National, CMSN) was a military government of Mauritania that took power in the 1979 coup d'état. It was ...

(CMSN). In May, he was replaced as president by Colonel Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly.http://lcweb2.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?frd/cstdy:@field(DOCID+mr0036) Between 1981 and 1984 he was imprisoned, and he later stood as an independent candidate in the 1992 presidential election, gaining 2.9% of the vote.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ould Salek, Mustafa 1936 births 2012 deaths Leaders who took power by coup Mauritanian military personnel Heads of state of Mauritania Prisoners and detainees of Mauritania Mauritanian prisoners and detainees People from Assaba Region