Born in
Nouakchott in 1953, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall was a long-time ally of President
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, and participated in the December 1984
coup that brought Ould Taya himself to power. Prior to the 2005 coup, he had been Director of the national police force, the
Sûreté Nationale, since 1987. On 3 August 2005, Ould Taya was ousted in a bloodless military coup while he was out of the country. A group of officers took power as the
Military Council for Justice and Democracy and announced that Ely was the Chairman of the council. He did not take the title of President because he said it should be reserved for elected leaders. The new regime, condemning Ould Taya's government as "totalitarian", The coup was welcomed by a part of the population, but outside the country there was sharp condemnation. The
African Union (which suspended Mauritania's membership), the
European Union,
United Nations Secretary General
Kofi Annan, and the
United States all condemned the coup. Ely maintained Mauritania's diplomatic relationship with
Israel. The constitutional referendum was held on June 25, 2006, and approved by 97% of voters. The 2006 constitution limits presidents to two five-year terms (under Taya, presidential terms had lasted six years and there was no limit on re-election) and requires a president to swear not to change the term limits (several other African countries have seen term limits removed from their constitutions so that presidents could continue to run for re-election). Ely toured the country beforehand to promote it and called it a "historical opportunity".
Parliamentary and local elections were held on November 19, 2006, which Ely praised as "the first time Mauritanians have been able to express themselves freely"; he also said that the difficulty of changing the constitution would preserve democracy in the future. Ely announced that he would step down after the
March 2007 presidential election. The election was ultimately won by
Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi in the second round of voting. Abdallahi's opponents alleged that his candidacy was supported by Ely's regime. Prior to the handover, Mauritania was allowed back into the African Union on April 10. On April 19, Abdallahi officially took office, completing the transition to civilian democratic rule. The military under General
Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz seized power again in August 2008, ousting Abdallahi, and a new
presidential election was planned. Ely announced on 6 June 2009 that he would be a candidate, running as an independent. He condemned the 2008 coup, asserting that it was "wrong and there was no reason for it" and that it had "provoked a particularly dangerous situation in our country". He stressed, however, that his candidacy was not directed against any particular individual, and he said that his goal, if elected, was "to build a reconciled country that is politically and economically viable and stable". He also said that he would "probably no longer be interested in public affairs" if not for the 2008 coup. Official results showed Ely performing poorly in the election, which was held on 18 July 2009, while Abdel Aziz won a majority in the first round. At a press conference on 30 July, Ely said that the election was merely a means of legitimizing the 2008 coup and that it had effectively reverted the country to the authoritarianism it had experienced under President Taya. He also said that he would continue to struggle against Abdel Aziz's regime. Ely was a board member of the
Arab Democracy Foundation. He was also a member of the
Fondation Chirac's honor committee, ever since the foundation was launched in 2008 by former French president
Jacques Chirac in order to promote world peace. Ely died of a
heart attack on 5 May 2017 at
Zouérat. ==References==