page_title: Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
hierarchical_section_title: Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
caption_attribution_description: English: U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Mauritanian President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz address reporters before their bilateral meeting at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on August 4, 2014. Leaders from across the African continent are in the nation's capital for a three-day U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit, the largest event any U.S. President has held with African heads of state and government. [State Department photo/ Public Domain]
context_page_description: Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz is a Mauritanian politician who was the 8th President of Mauritania, in office from 2009 to 2019. A career soldier and high-ranking officer, he was a leading figure in the August 2005 coup that deposed President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, and in August 2008 he led another coup, which toppled President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. Following the 2008 coup, Abdel Aziz became President of the High Council of State as part of what was described as a political transition leading to a new election. He resigned from that post in April 2009 in order to stand as a candidate in the July 2009 presidential election, which he won. He was sworn in on 5 August 2009. He was subsequently re-elected in 2014, then did not seek re-election in 2019. He was succeeded by Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who assumed office on 1 August 2019.
  Abdel Aziz also served as the Chairman of the African Union from 2014 to 2015.
context_section_description: Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (Arabic: محمد ولد عبد العزيز‎ Muḥammad Wald ‘Abd al-‘Azīz; born 20 December 1956) is a Mauritanian politician who was  the 8th President of Mauritania, in office from 2009 to 2019. A career soldier and high-ranking officer, he was a leading figure in the August 2005 coup that deposed President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, and in August 2008 he led another coup, which toppled President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. Following the 2008 coup, Abdel Aziz became President of the High Council of State as part of what was described as a political transition leading to a new election. He resigned from that post in April 2009 in order to stand as a candidate in the July 2009 presidential election, which he won. He was sworn in on 5 August 2009. He was subsequently re-elected in 2014, then did not seek re-election in 2019. He was succeeded by Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who assumed office on 1 August 2019.
  Abdel Aziz also served as the Chairman of the African Union from 2014 to 2015.
caption: Abdel-Aziz in 2014
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