Mustafa Ould Salek
| Mustafa Ould Salek المصطفى ولد محمد السالك |
|
|---|---|
| 2nd Chairman of the Military Committee for National Recovery | |
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In office 10 July 1978 – 3 June 1979 |
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| Preceded by |
Mokhtar Ould Daddah (as President of Mauritania) |
| Succeeded by |
Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly (as Chairman of the Military Committee for National Salvation) |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1936 Kiffa, Assaba Region, Mauritania, French West Africa |
| Died | December 18, 2012 |
| Nationality | Mauritanian |
| Religion | Sunni Islam |
| Military service | |
| Service/branch | Mauritanian Army |
| Rank | Colonel |
Col. Mustafa Ould Salek (Arabic: المصطفى ولد محمد السالك; 1936 – 18 December 2012) was the President of Mauritania from 1978 through 1979.
Mustafa Ould Salek was appointed army commander by longtime President Mokhtar Ould Daddah in February 1978, as the country faced dire economic crisis and was failing to contain the Polisario Front's Sahrawi guerrillas after invading Western Sahara in 1975 in alliance with Morocco. On July 10, 1978, Ould Salek led a military coup d'état against President Daddah, and was appointed head of the 20-man junta (the Military Committee for National Recovery, CMRN) that was to rule the country. He died in a Paris hospital aged 76.
Seen as pro-French 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 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 Moors, 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 Ahmad Ould Bouceif and Muhammad Khouna Haidallah reduced Ould Salek to a figurehead President in the replacement junta, the Military Committee for National Salvation (CMSN). In May, he was replaced as president by Colonel Muhammad Louly.
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