Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (Arabic: معاوية ولد سيد أحمد الطايع) (born 1941), also transliterated as Mu'awiya walad Sayyidi Ahmad Taya, was Prime Minister of Mauritania from 1981 to 1984 and president from 1984 to 2005. He guided Mauritania from military rule to democracy, and took a pro-Western stance in foreign affairs. He was ousted by a military coup in 2005.
Born in the town of Atar (Adrar Region), Ould Taya attended a Franco-Arabic Primary School from 1949 to 1955. He then attended Rosso High School in southern Mauritania. After graduation, he attended a French military school in 1960 and graduated as an officer. In 1975, he received strategic training at the French War Academy. In 1978 the Mauritanian army seized power and ousted President Moktar Ould Daddah, in an attempt to forestall government collapse in the war over Western Sahara against the Polisario Front (1975-79). Ould Taya was among the conspirators, and quickly gained influence within the government. (Read more...)