(Mogadishu) – Former Mauritanian President, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, died of heart attack at 64, his family and the official Mauritanian News Agency announced.
Mauritania announced a three-day mourning period.
Born in 1953 in Nouakchott, Vall was the president of Mauritania from 2005 to 2007.
In August 2005, a coup forced President Maaouya Ould Taya out of power and Vall became the leader of the ruling Military Council for Justice and Democracy.
Vall ruled the country in an interim period of no more than two years and he was the first Mauritanian President who handed over power voluntarily to an elected president, Sidi Ould Sheikh Abdullah.
He was a main critic of current President Gen. Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz who toppled Ould Sheikh Abdullah in a military coup in 2008.
