Former Mauritania president dies at 82

Mauritania’s former President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi died last night, with the presidency announcing three days of official mourning.

According to local media, Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, 82, died at a private hospital in the country’s capital Nouakchott.

Reports did not mention details on the cause of his death.

The late president came to power after winning elections on 9 April  2007, before he was toppled by a military coup headed by former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz in August 2008.

After the coup, he was placed under house arrest before reaching an agreement in the Senegalese capital Dakar, which allowed him to announce his resignation on 27 June 2009 and has since retired from politics.

The late leader served in many government positions in the 1970s and 1980s, including as minister of economy in 1971-1978 and worked as a consultant to the Kuwait Fund for Development in 1982-1985.

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