Moktar Ould Daddah

Moktar Ould Daddah (Arabic: مختار ولد داداه, romanized: Mukhtār Wald Dāddāh; 25 December 1924 – 14 October 2003) was a Mauritanian politician who served as the country's first President after it gained its independence from France. Moktar served as the country's first Prime Minister from 1957 to 1961 and as its first President of Mauritania, a position he held for 18 years until he was deposed in a military coup d'etat in 1978.

He established an authoritarian one-party state, with his Mauritanian People's Party being the sole legal political entity in the country, and followed a policy of "Islamic socialism" with many nationalizations of private businesses. In his memoirs, Moktar expressed concern that the issue of slavery in Mauritania could lead to armed conflict that would ultimately destroy the country.