محمد ولد عبد العزيز
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was born in Akjoujt on 20 December 1956. He joined the Meknes Royal Military Academy in Morocco in 1977, and, after a string of promotions, established the elite BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion). He played a key role in suppressing an attempted coup in June 2003 and a military uprising in August 2004. He received Mauritania's highest military award for his role in stopping the 2004 uprising.