Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla

Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla محمد خونا ولد هيداله
4th Chairman of the Military Council for Justice and Democracy
In office 4 January 1980 – 12 December 1984
Preceded by	Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly
Succeeded by	Maaouya Ould Taya
3rd Prime Minister of Mauritania
In office 31 May 1979 – 12 December 1980
Preceded by	Ahmed Salim Ould Sidi (Acting)
Succeeded by	Sid Ahmed Ould Bneijara
In office 8 March 1984 – 12 December 1984
Preceded by	Maaouya Ould Taya
Succeeded by	Maaouya Ould Taya
Personal details
Born	1940 (age 76–77) La Güera, Spanish Sahara or Nouadhibou, French West Africa
Nationality	Mauritanian
Religion	Sunni Islam
Military service
Service/branch	Mauritanian Army
Years of service	1962 - 1984
Rank	Colonel

Ret. Col. Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidallah (Arabic: محمد خونا ولد هيداله‎‎) (born 1940) was the head of state of Mauritania (Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation, CMSN) from 4 January 1980 to 12 December 1984. He was an unsuccessful candidate in the 2003 presidential election and the 2007 presidential election.

Born in 1940 in the Nouadhibou region (either in then-Spanish Sahara or colonial Mauritania), into a family of the Sahrawi Laaroussien tribe, he passed to secondary education in Rosso near the border to French-administered Senegal. He earned a baccalaureat in science in Dakar, Senegal, in 1961. After joining the Mauritanian army in 1962, he studied in French military colleges, notably Saint-Cyr.

After 1975, he commanded forces in the north of Mauritania and Tiris al-Gharbiya (Western Sahara), in the war against Polisario Front guerrillas, notably in the Zouerate region and Bir Moghrein. In 1978, with the country in severe disorder, he participated in a coup d'état that overthrew Mauritanian President Mokhtar Ould Daddah. As a member of the CRMN military junta, he was promoted to the post of Chief of the General Staff.

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