Former Mauritanian junta chief dies of heart attack

By AFP

Mauritania Mauritania's former military leader Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, pictured in March 2006, had fallen ill and died from a heart attack, a family source told AFP. By CRIS BOURONCLE AFPFile

MAY 5, 2017 LISTEN

Mauritania's former military leader Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, pictured in March 2006, had fallen ill and died from a heart attack, a family source told AFP. By CRIS BOURONCLE (AFP/File)

Dakar (AFP) - Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, the former head of a military junta who ruled Mauritania from 2005 until 2007, died Friday of a heart attack while on holiday, his family and an official news agency said.

Born in 1953, Vall served as the head of a transition government that handed over to Mauritania's first democratically elected president, Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi.

Vall led a 2005 coup against dictator Maaouiya Ould Taya, but kept a promise to step aside for elections two years later.

President Mohammed Ould Abdel Aziz announced three days of mourning, the Mauritanian Information Agency (AMI) said, while a family source confirmed to AFP he had fallen ill and had a heart attack.

Vall was a longtime critic of Aziz after the current president removed Abdallahi in a separate 2008 coup.