Ahmed Ould Daddah

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Ahmed Ould Daddah ( Arabic أحمد ولد داده, born August 7, 1942 in Boutilimit , French West Africa ) is a Mauritanian economist , politician and civil servant. He is a half-brother of Moktar Ould Daddah , the first President of Mauritania , and belongs to the marabouts of the Ouled Birri tribe . He is president of the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD) party and was named official opposition leader in the 2007 Mauritanian presidential election , in which he came second by votes.

Life

Youth and education

Daddah was born on August 7, 1942 in Boutilimit , then part of French West Africa. He is the younger brother of former Mauritanian President Moktar Ould Daddah . He began his training at the primary school in Boutilimit and then moved to the Lycée Van Vollenhoven in Dakar . He studied economics in Paris at the Faculté de Droit et Sciences Economiques and graduated in the mid-1960s.

Career

After returning to Mauritania, Daddah worked as an economic and financial advisor to his brother, President Moktar Ould Daddah (1967–68), and then as Executive Secretary of the Etats Riverains du Sénégal organization (1968– March 1971). During this time he laid the foundations for the organization pour la mise en valeur du fleuve Sénégal .

In 1971 he became Director-General of the state-owned Import-Export Company of Mauritania and in 1973 he was appointed Governor of the Central Bank of Mauritania (-1978). He was then finance minister for a short time until his brother was deposed on July 10, 1978 by a military coup. He later worked as an economist for the World Bank (1986–1991) and as a consultant for the government of the Central African Republic .

Under Taya

In 1991 he returned to Mauritania and ran for the post of President against Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya . In the elections in January 1992, he came in second place with 32.73% of the vote. In 1992 he also became Secretary General of the Union of Democratic Forces-New Era (UFD-EN), an opposition party.

Daddah was jailed with another opposition member, Hamdi Ould Mouknass of the Union for Democracy and Progress , and other activists in January 1995 after riots broke out over the price of bread. The parties were accused of causing the wave of violence, which they denied. They were placed under house arrest and not sentenced. They were released in early February.

In February 1997 the UFD-EN and four other opposition parties formed the Front of Opposition Parties (FPO). The FPO boycotted the December 1997 presidential election and Taya won an easy victory. On December 16, 1998, Daddah was arrested again in the capital, Nouakchott , along with two other UFD-EN party officials, Mohameden Ould Babah and Mohameden Ould Ichiddou . Thereupon the FPO, of which Daddah was also president, convened a meeting accusing the government of planning to dump nuclear waste from Israel in Mauritania. The prisoners were held under poor conditions in Boumdeid until January 17, 1999, after which they were charged again with “causing intolerance” and “endangering public order” (March 1999). In April 2000, Daddah was arrested again and held for five days after calling a meeting in the capital to indict the lack of rule of law and education regarding violence in the late 1980s and early 1990s. In December 2000, he was detained again for three days, but was not charged.

In October 2000 the UFD-EN was dissolved by the government on the grounds that it had provoked violence and damaged the interests of the country. In their place a new opposition party was created, the Rally of Democratic Forces (RFD), of which Daddah became president in January 2002.

Daddah ran again in the presidential election of November 7, 2003, in which he achieved third place with 6.89% after Taya and Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla . On November 8, he, together with Haidalla and another opposition leader, Messoud Ould Boulkheir , challenged the election for election fraud and called on the population not to recognize the election.

On November 3, 2004, he was arrested along with Haidalla and Sheikh Ould Horma and charged with preparing a coup. The prosecutor asked for a five-year prison term for Daddah, but at the end of the trial (February 3, 2005) he was acquitted after 195 witnesses defended him.

Putsch and return to democracy

Taya was ousted by a coup in August 2005 and a military transitional regime hosted new elections in late 2006 and early 2007. Daddah called the RFD the "greatest political power" after the first round of the 2006 Mauritanian parliamentary elections on November 19th. The RFD took part in this election as part of an opposition alliance of eight parties. In Kiffa , Daddah declared his candidacy for the presidential elections in March 2007 on January 12, 2007. In the first round of elections on March 11, he won 20.69% of the vote, second only to Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi with 24.80%. In the second round of voting (March 25), Abdallahi won with 52.85% of the vote. Daddah won in three of the country's 13 regions: Nouakchott, Inchiri , and Trarza , where he is from. Daddah accepted the results and congratulated Abdallahi on his victory.

On May 30, 2007, Daddah was officially appointed opposition leader by the Constitutional Court.

Coup 2008

Daddah and the RFD supported the August 6, 2008 military coup. In an interview with Al Jazeera on August 12, Daddah described the coup as “a movement to rectify the democratic process” and claimed that the 2007 presidential election was “fraudulent marked “.

On February 4, 2009, Daddah declared that Abdallahi should not be allowed back into the presidency. Although he continued to support the coup, he suggested that the army give up power and that anyone serving in the military at the time of the coup should not be allowed to run in the 2009 presidential election. He expressed concern that the continuation of military rule could negatively affect Mauritania's international relations. Daddah and the RFD boycotted the 2009 presidential election because they opposed the military junta's timing.

After the junta and the opposition had reached an agreement and the elections were postponed to July 18, 2009, the RFD announced on June 9, 2009 that Daddah had been elected as the new presidential candidate.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Marwane ben Yahmed: Les vérités d'Ahmed Ould Daddah. In: Jeuneafrique.com , February 18, 2007.
  2. ↑ a b Anthony G. Pazzanita: Historical Dictionary of Mauritania. Scarecrow Press, 1996: 20, 39. [1] ISBN 9780810830950
  3. ^ Presidential Candidate Ahmed Ould Daddah Will Restore Democracy, Peace, and Economic Stability to Mauritania. Mauritanian Foundation for Democracy (PRNewswire.com) February 9, 2007.
  4. ^ A b Elections in Mauritania , African Elections Database.
  5. ^ Amnesty International Report 1996 - Mauritania , UNHCR.org.
  6. ^ Mauritania: Information on the Union of Democratic Forces (UFD), including its status, the names of its executive and on problems experienced by this political party. Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada, UNHCR.org.
  7. ↑ Amale Samie: "La Démocratie en Marche" , maroc-hebdo.press.ma.
  8. ↑ Amnesty International Report 2000 - Mauritania , UNHCR.org.
  9. ↑ Amnesty International Report 2001 - Mauritania , UNHCR.org.
  10. ↑ US Department of State Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2000 - Mauritania , UNHCR.org.
  11. ↑ "Mauritania: Update to MRT39363.E of 25 September 2002 on the Union of Democratic Forces-New Era (Union des forces démocratiques-Ère nouvelle, UFD-EN) and its successor, the Rally of Democratic Forces (Rassemblement des forces démocratiques, RFD), including the treatment of its members by government authorities (2002-October 2004) " , Responses to Information Requests, Research Directorate, Immigration and Refugee Board, Canada, UNHCR.org.
  12. ↑ "MAURITANIA: Opposition leader arrested after president re-elected" , IRIN November 9, 2003.
  13. ↑ MAURITANIA: Three opposition leaders arrested in connection with coup plots , IRIN, November 4, 2004.
  14. ↑ MAURITANIA: Coup plotters get life in prison but escape death sentence , IRIN, February 3, 2005.
  15. ↑ Mauritanian opposition leader claims victory , DPA (IOL), November 21, 2006.
  16. ^ M. Ahmed Ould Daddah annonce sa candidature pour les présidentielles à partir de Kiffa ( Memento of September 28, 2007 in the Internet Archive ), Agence Mauritanienne d'Information, January 12, 2007.
  17. ↑ Le Conseil constitutionnel proclame les résultats des élections présidentielles. ( Memento of December 14, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) AMI, March 29, 2007.
  18. ↑ a b Map of election results .
  19. ↑ Vincent Fertey: Boycott could see Aziz triumph at the polls. Reuters (IOL), April 23, 2009.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Ould Daddah, Ahmed
ALTERNATIVE NAMES أحمد ولد داده (Arabic)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Mauritanian politician
DATE OF BIRTH August 7, 1942
PLACE OF BIRTH Boutilimit , French West Africa