President of Mauritania Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya is overthrown in a military coup while attending the funeral of King Fahd in Saudi Arabia.
Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya (Arabic: , romanized: Mawiyah wuld Sdi Amad a-ya / Mu'awiya walad Sayyidi Ahmad Taya; born 28 November 1943) is a Mauritanian military officer who served as the President of Mauritania from 1984 to 2005. Having come to power through a bloodless military coup, he was ousted by a military coup himself in 2005. Prior to his presidency, he was the 5th Prime Minister of Mauritania between 1981 to 1992 (except for a brief period in 1984).
This is a list of heads of state of Mauritania since the country gained independence from France in 1960 to the present day.
A total of eight people have served as head of state of Mauritania (not counting one Acting President). Additionally, one person, Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, has served on two non-consecutive occasions.
The current head of state of Mauritania is the President of the Republic Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, since 1 August 2019.