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Mauritania's First President Dies
By Associated Press

October 16, 2003, 3:43 PM EDT

PARIS -- Moktar Ould Daddah, the founding father of Mauritania who ruled from
independence in 1960 until he was ousted by a coup in 1978, has died in
Paris, French authorities said Thursday.

Daddah, who was born in 1924, died Wednesday in a military hospital in Paris,
the French army's health service said. It did not give the cause of death or
say what ailments Daddah had been treated for.

Daddah took over as leader of the West African nation when it gained
independence from France on Nov. 28, 1960. The following year, he prevailed
in single-party elections.

He was ousted in 1978 by a military junta, which jailed him for 15 months.
Upon his release, Daddah went into exile in Tunisia and France. He only
returned to his homeland in 2001.

Mauritania, a largely desert nation on Africa's Atlantic Coast, straddles
Arab and black Africa.
Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press

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