Mohamed Ould Ghazouani in the context of "2019 Mauritanian presidential election"

Mauritania, officially the Islamic Republic of Mauritania, is a country in Northwest Africa. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Western Sahara to the north and northwest, Algeria to the northeast, Mali to the east and southeast, and Senegal to the southwest. By land area Mauritania is the 11th-largest country in Africa and the 28th-largest in the world; 90% of its territory is in the Sahara desert. Most of its population of some 4.3 million live in the temperate south of the country; roughly a third of the population is concentrated in the capital and largest city, Nouakchott, on the Atlantic coast.

The country's name derives from Mauretania, the Latin name for a region in the ancient Maghreb. It extended from central present-day Algeria to the Atlantic. Berbers occupied what is now Mauritania by the beginning of the 3rd century AD. Groups of Arab tribes migrated to this area in the late 7th century, bringing with them Islam, Arab culture, and the Arabic language. In the early 20th century, Mauritania was colonized by France as part of French West Africa. It achieved independence in 1960. However, the country has since experienced recurrent coups and periods of military dictatorship. The 2008 Mauritanian coup d'état was led by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, who won subsequent presidential elections in 2009 and 2014. He was succeeded by General Mohamed Ould Ghazouani following the 2019 elections, in what was considered the country's first peaceful transition of power since independence. Mauritania has a poor human rights record, particularly because of its perpetuation of slavery; the 2018 Global Slavery Index estimates there are about 90,000 slaves in the country (or 2.1% of the population).

Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz (Arabic: محمد ولد عبد العزيز, romanized: Muḥammad Wald 'Abd al-'Azīz; born 20 December 1956) is a retired Mauritanian military officer and politician who served as the 8th President of Mauritania from 2009 to 2019.

A career soldier and high-ranking officer, he was a leading figure in the August 2005 coup that ousted President Maaouya Ould Sid'Ahmed Taya, and later in August 2008, he led another coup, that removed President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. After the 2008 coup, Mohamed became president of the High Council of State as part of what was described as a political transition leading to a new election. He resigned from that post in April 2009 in order to stand as a candidate in the July 2009 presidential election, which he won. He took office in August 2009. He was subsequently re-elected in 2014, then did not seek re-election in 2019. He was succeeded by Mohamed Ould Ghazouani, who assumed office in August 2019.