Moktar Ould Daddah

Moktar Ould Daddah (1924-2003), first president of Mauritania (1961-1978).

Born in Boutilimit in western Mauritania into a prominent Berber family of marabouts (Islamic religious scholars), Daddah attended an Islamic school at Boutilimit, then the elite Sons of Chiefs' School in Senegal. At that time both Mauritania and Senegal were part of the French colony of French West Africa. Daddah graduated in 1940 and worked as an interpreter for the French colonial administration, then resumed his education in Paris, completing courses in law and Arabic studies. Mauritania became a French overseas territory in 1946.

In 1957, while practicing law in Dakar, Senegal, Daddah was elected to the territorial legislature and appointed to the executive council. In 1958 he was elected secretary general of the Parti du Regroupement Mauritanien (PRM) and the following year Daddah was elected president of Mauritania's first National Assembly. He served as head of state following full independence in August 1960 and was elected Mauritania's first president in 1961.

Daddah was reelected to three more five-year terms and oversaw Mauritania's transition to a one-party state in 1964, integrating all political parties as part of the PRM. He spearheaded Mauritania's move toward a North African and Arab alliance by severing relations with the United States during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and securing Mauritania's membership in the Arab League in October 1973 and declaring Arabic the official language of instruction and commerce. These moves were met with resistance by the nation's black African minority. In 1973 Daddah also replaced the French franc with the Mauritanian ouguiya as the official currency.

In 1976 Daddah tried to annex the southern portion of neighboring Western Sahara. A nationalist group in Western Sahara known as Polisario Front resisted the occupation of their land and steadily fought back the Mauritanian army. The war, unpopular with Mauritanians of both Arab and African descent, drained the national budget and eventually led to the bloodless military coup that deposed Daddah in July 1978. He was detained and exiled to France but returned to Mauritania in later years.