Moktar Ould Daddah
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{{Infobox President | name=Moktar Ould Daddah<br>مختار ولد داده
|image=MoktarOuldDaddah.jpg
|nationality= [[Mauritanian]]
|order= [[President of Mauritania]]
|term_start=[[November 28]], [[1960]]
|term_end=[[July 10]], [[1978]]
|predecessor= N/A
|successor= [[Mustafa Ould Salek]]
|birth_date= [[December 25]], [[1924]]
|birth_place= [[Boutilimit]], [[Mauritania]]
|deatd=dead
|spouse=
|party=
|religion= [[Sunni Islam]]
|vicepresident=
}}
'''Moktar Ould Daddah''' ([[Arabic language|Arabic]]: مختار ولد داده; [[December 25]], [[1924]] - [[October 14]], [[2003]]) was the [[President of Mauritania|President]] of [[Mauritania]] from 1960, when his country gained its independence from [[France]], to 1978, when he was deposed in a military [[coup d'etat]].
== Background ==
Daddah was born to an important [[marabout]] family of the [[Ouled Birri]] tribe in [[Boutilimit]], Mauritania. As a law student in [[Paris]], he graduated as the first Mauritanian to hold a [[university]] degree.
<!-- Seems to be wrong: Daddah met and married the daughter of [[President of France|President]] [[Charles de Gaulle]]. This was to be a key factor in his rise to power in what was then a French [[colonization|colony]]. -->
On his return to Mauritania in the late 1950s, Daddah joined the centre-left [[Progressive Mauritanian Union]], and was elected President of the Executive Council. In 1959, however, he established a new political party, the [[Mauritanian Regrouping Party]]. In the last pre-independence legislative elections held later that year, his party won every seat in the [[National Assembly of Mauritania|National Assembly]], and he was appointed [[Prime Minister]].
He was known for his ability to establish a [[consensus]] among different political parties, as well as between the [[Moors#Present-day Moors|White Moors]], [[Moors#Present-day Moors|Black Moors]] and [[Black (people)|Black Africans]], Mauritania's three main [[ethnicity|ethnic]] groups.<ref>See [http://www.worldstatesmen.org/Mauritania.htm World Statesmen]</ref> The balanced representation of different ethnic and political groups in his government won the confidence of the French authorities, who granted [[independence]] to Mauritania under his leadership in 1960. Daddah was named Acting President of the new [[republic]], and was confirmed in office in the first post-independence election in August 1961.
== President of Mauritania ==
As President, Daddah pursued policies that differed markedly from those he had professed prior to independence. In September 1961, he formed a "government of national unity" with the main opposition party, and in December, he arranged for the four largest parties to merge as the [[Mauritanian People's Party]] (PPM), which became the [[single-party state|sole legal party]]. He formalized the one-party state in 1964 with a new [[Constitution of Mauritania|Constitution]], which set up an [[authoritarianism|authoritarian]] presidential regime. Daddah justified this decision on the grounds that he considered Mauritania unready for western-style [[multi-party system|multi-party democracy]]. Under this one-party constitution, Daddah was reelected in uncontested elections in 1966, 1971 and 1976.
In 1971, Daddah served as President of the [[Organization of African Unity]] (OAU). At home, however, his policies were failing. The economy was stagnating and remained strongly dependent on French [[foreign aid|aid]]. Moreover, drought in the [[Sahel]], principally in the period between 1969 and 1974, and a decline in export revenues due to fall in international prices of [[iron]], had lowered [[standard of living|living standards]] considerably. In 1975, he presented a charter which called for Mauritania to become an "[[Islam]]ic, [[nationalism|nationalist]], [[centralization|centralist]], and [[socialism|socialist]] [[democracy]]." This charter was initially popular, and the [[political opposition|opposition]], in general, welcomed it.
== War in Western Sahara ==
What brought an end to Ould Daddah's [[regime]] was great dissatisfaction with Mauritania's war in [[Western Sahara]] against the [[Polisario Front]], an [[Indigenous peoples|indigenous]] movement fighting against the [[Morocco|Moroccan]]-Mauritanian attempt to jointly [[annexation|annex]] the territory, [[Madrid Accords|starting in 1975]]. Ould Daddah had [[Greater Morocco|claimed the territory]] since before independence, but the idea was not well anchored in the greater population. The Mauritanian [[Moors]] are closely related to the [[Sahrawi]]s, and virtually all northern [[tribe]]s had members on both sides of the (former) frontier, many of whom sympathized with the Polisario's demands for independence. In addition to providing support for [[guerrilla warfare|guerrillas]] in northern Mauritania, several thousand Mauritanians left the country to join the Polisario in its [[Tindouf Province|Tindouf]] camps. Further dissatisfaction arose in the South, from where Black troops were sent to fight what they regarded as an essentially inter-[[Arab]] conflict, and one which could, if successful, entrench Ould Daddah's discriminatory rule even further by the addition of several thousand new Moorish citizens. But Ould Daddah additionally sought the territory in order to prevent it from falling into Moroccan hands, still wary of the officially defunct [[Greater Morocco|Moroccan territorial demands]] on Mauritania.
Following the [[Madrid Accords]] with Spain, Mauritania annexed a southern portion of the territory, renaming it [[Tiris al-Gharbiya]]. However, the small and poorly trained Mauritanian army failed to stop the guerilla incursions, despite backing from the [[French Air Force]]. Polisario then turned to attacking the iron [[Mining|mine]]s in [[Zouerate]], at which point the country's [[economy]] started backsliding, and Daddah's public support tumbled. In 1976, the capital [[Nouakchott]] was attacked by the Polisario Front, and Daddah was forced to appoint a military officer to head the ministry of defence.
== Downfall and later life ==
On [[July 10]], [[1978]], [[Lt. Col.]] [[Mustafa Ould Salek]] ousted Daddah in a military coup, and installed [[CMRN|a junta]] to rule the country in his place. His [[CMSN|successors]] would surrender Mauritania's claims to Western Sahara and withdraw from the war the following year.
After a period of imprisonment, Ould Daddah was allowed to go into [[exile]] in [[France]] in August 1979, where he organized the an opposition group, the [[Alliance pour une Mauritanie Democratique]] (AMD) in 1980. Attempts to overthrow the regime from abroad were unsuccessful. Ould Daddah was allowed to return to Mauritania on [[July 17]], [[2001]],<ref>"Ousted Mauritanian president due home from 23 years in exile". ''Agence France Presse''. July 17, 2001.</ref> but died soon after, following a long illness, in [[Paris]] on [[October 14]], [[2003]]. His body was subsequently flown back to Mauritania, where it is buried.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/3203896.stm "Mauritania lays president to rest"], BBC.co.uk, October 18, 2003.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9028499/Moktar-Ould-Daddah Moktar Ould Daddah]
{{MauritanianPresidents}}
{{MauritaniaPMs}}
{{African Union chairpersons}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daddah, Moktar Ould}}
[[Category:1924 births]]
[[Category:2003 deaths]]
[[Category:Mauritanian politicians]]
[[Category:Leaders ousted by a coup]]
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