Mauritania's Daddah dies

2003-10-15 16:00

Nouakchott - Mauritania's first president Moktar Ould Daddah, who was the African desert nation's first president following independence from France in 1960, has died in Paris, his brother told AFP on Wednesday.

Ould Daddah, 79, died on Tuesday night in the French capital's Val de Grace hospital, where he had been undergoing treatment for a long illness, his brother Ahmed Ould Daddah said.

His body is expected to be returned on Friday to Mauritania, where a funeral service will be held for him at Boutilimit, his home town in the southwest of the country, his brother said.

Born on December 25, 1924, Ould Daddah became the first president of Mauritania in August 1961, nine months after the country gained independence from France.

He ruled the country for 17 years until he was ousted in a coup in July 1978.

Following his ouster, Ould Daddah lived in exile in France, only returning to Mauritania in July 2001.

Ould Daddah had been in hospital in Paris for several weeks leading up to his death. Mauritania's current president Maaouiya Ould Taya visited him at Val de Grace hospital last month, according to Mauritania's national information agency.

According to weekly magazine Jeune Afrique, Ould Daddah had recently completed his memoires, entitled "Mauritania, Against All Odds." The book is due to be published at the end of October.

- AFP