Mohamed Ould Al-Ghazouani before a meeting at the European Council in Brussels on January 14, 2021 (Reuters)

Mohamed Ould El Ghazouani, the ninth president of Mauritania, was born in 1956 and joined the army in the late 1970s. He participated in the 2005 and 2008 coups, and held the positions of Director of Military Intelligence, Director General of Security, Chief of Staff of the Army, and Minister of Defense. He is the first Mauritanian officer to obtain the rank of Lieutenant General, as he was promoted to it on January 1, 2012.

He assumed the presidency following the 2019 elections with the support of his predecessor, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, the ruling majority forces, and some opposition factions. After his election, he won over other opposition factions, and the first years of his rule witnessed a trial against his predecessor, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, which sparked legal and political controversy.

On February 17, 2024, he assumed the position of rotating President of the African Union from the President of the Comoros, Gazali Ousmani, at the 37th Summit of the Union held in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa.

Mohamed Ould El Ghazouani in a press conference after a meeting with NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg in 2021 (Reuters)

Birth and upbringing

Mohamed Ould Sheikh Al-Ghazwani was born on December 2, 1956 in the city of Boumedied in eastern Mauritania, to the family of a sheikh in the Ghafia order, which is a branch of the Shadhili Sufi order.

Study and training

Ould Sheikh Al-Ghazwani began his educational career with the original (national) education. He memorized the Holy Qur’an with the Kuttab at the age of ten, and continued his formal education until he obtained a baccalaureate degree (general secondary school).

He then joined the army and received basic training for officer cadets at the Royal Military Academy in Meknes, Morocco, and obtained the rank of lieutenant in July 1981.

He rose through the ranks of officers, and he and his predecessor, former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, were the first two officers to obtain the rank of major general while serving in 2008, as it was previously granted to a chief of staff after his retirement. On January 1, 2012, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, becoming the first officer in The Mauritanian army gets it.

He obtained a university degree in legal studies and a master’s degree in administrative and military sciences.

Al-Ghazwani delivers a speech before the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly on September 25, 2023 (Reuters)

Military experience

After graduating from the Military Academy and being promoted to the rank of lieutenant in 1981, Ould Ghazouani held various positions in several army formations, and received several courses, some of which were at the military school in the city of Atar. He also received postgraduate military studies in Jordan.

Starting in 1987, he became a military companion to former President Maaouya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya until 1991, when he was appointed commander of the Armored Battalion, a position he held for 13 years. In the period between 2004 and 2005, he assumed leadership of the Second Office (Military Intelligence) led by the Army Staff.

During this period, he was one of the senior officers with the rank of colonel who participated in the coup against President Ould Taya on August 3, 2005. He became a member of the Military Council for Justice and Democracy (a military body that ruled Mauritania in a transitional manner until a new president was elected), and assumed the position of Director General of Security. National from 2005 until 2008.

On August 6, 2008, Ould Ghazouani participated alongside his friend, Presidential Security Commander Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, in the coup against the first elected civilian president, Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallah, hours after he issued a decision to dismiss them. He became a member of the High Council of State and Chief of Staff. Army, a position he held for 10 years until he retired from military service in October 2018, and was appointed Minister of Defense until mid-March 2019.

Entering political life

Many sources indicate that Ould Ghazouani had a strong relationship with what was known in the Mauritanian political community as the “Parliamentary Brigade,” a group of representatives of the ruling party that supported the coup against President Sidi Mohamed Ould Sheikh Abdallah.

During the era of his predecessor, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, he was described as the first candidate to succeed him in the presidential position due to the friendship that had united them since he entered the army in the late seventies, but he was not known for his direct political presence throughout his period in military service.

On March 1, 2019, Ould Ghazouani officially announced his candidacy for the presidency in June of the same year, in a speech he delivered at a public festival, and President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz expressed his support, which settled the controversy after the political presence of other figures close to Ould Abdel increased. Al-Aziz's names had been proposed to succeed him.

Ould Ghazouani left the position of Minister of Defense in a cabinet reshuffle on March 15, to devote himself to competing in the electoral campaign. The Election Commission announced that he had won the presidency in the elections on June 22, 2019, by obtaining 52% of the voters’ votes, and he assumed the position on August 1. Next August.

Mohamed Ould El Ghazouani before the opening ceremony of the 37th Ordinary Session of the Assembly of the African Union on February 17, 2024 (French)

A new style of governance

President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz did not attend the festival announcing the candidacy of his friend Ould Ghazouani, although the then First Lady Takbar Bint Ahmed attended. It was not organized in the name of the ruling Union for the Republic party as expected, but rather the party and the rest of the majority parties joined in support of the candidate, and the festival was chosen to be held in A popular neighborhood on the outskirts of Nouakchott.

The nomination speech carried many political messages that gave the features of a new style of governance, starting with the trend towards openness to all sects and praising all former presidents of the country, with a pledge to increase the fortunes of the victims of injustice, strengthen national unity and social cohesion, and achieve economic advancement. He became described by his supporters as “the consensus candidate.” the National".

After his inauguration as president of the country, Ould Ghazouani was able to win over the symbols of the historical opposition and the most prominent human rights figures in the country, following individual meetings in the presidential palace. Most of them issued statements praising him and his “new style of rule.”

During the first years of his rule, Parliament passed a new law criminalizing “insulting or insulting the person of the President of the Republic,” which his opponents considered a decline in freedom of expression and a sanctification of the president’s person.

The “National Symbols Protection Law” placed the president side by side with the constants and sanctities of the Islamic religion, national unity, the territorial estate, and the national flag and anthem, and according to it, no confidence was withheld from the parliamentary representative, Mohamed Bouy Ould Sheikh Mohamed Fadel, and he was sent to prison for 3 months.

The ruling Union for the Republic party also held a conference in mid-2022 during which it adopted a new name and slogan, which was considered a step towards breaking with the regime of former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who was elected by the founding body as head of the party on May 5, 2009.

Friend's trial

On December 4, 2023, the Mauritanian judiciary issued a ruling convicting former President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz on charges of money laundering and illicit enrichment, which is the first time that a Mauritanian president has been tried on corruption-related charges.

This trial sparked widespread legal controversy and lasted several months, and its course began with the formation of a parliamentary investigation committee, which Ould Abdel Aziz refused to deal with and referred its report to the judiciary. The report included businessmen and several former ministers and officials under Ould Abdel Aziz’s rule, and the trial represented the end of a 40-year-old friendship between Ould Ghazouani and Ould Abdel Aziz.

Ould Abdel Aziz's lawyers believe that Article 93 of the Constitution grants him immunity even after leaving power, and that the dispute that began to emerge after a meeting he held with the leadership of the ruling party in which he described himself as its authority is what caused him to be dragged to trial.

In his responses to journalists’ questions, Ould Ghazouani continued to avoid commenting on this trial and considered that friendship was a personal matter and had nothing to do with the judiciary, while Ould Abdel Aziz’s statements ranged from holding other figures in the regime responsible for his targeting to personally accusing Ould Ghazouani before the judiciary of being the source of most of his wealth. .

Presidency of the African Union

On February 17, he assumed the position of rotating President of the African Union from his predecessor, President of the Comoros, Gazali Assoumani, at the 37th Summit of the Union held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Source: Al Jazeera + agencies + websites