[Profile] Coup leader Abdelaziz

Below are some facts about Mohamed Ould Abdelaziz, who led the Aug. 6 coup against elected President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi. Abdelaziz chairs the newly-formed "State Council," a military-led ruling council in the northwest African Islamic state.

- Born in 1956, Abdelaziz joined the armed forces in 1977 and attended a military academy in Morocco before rising through the ranks of the army.

- He set up the elite presidential guard unit known as the BASEP (Presidential Security Battalion), which was the force that arrested Mauritania's President Sidi Mohamed Ould Cheikh Abdallahi on Aug. 6.

- Abdelaziz was instrumental in putting down an attempted coup in June 2003 but went on to be one of the architects of the 2005 coup, which was led by Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall and overthrew President Maaouiya Ould Taya, who had been in power since 1984.

- Unlike Vall, who steered Mauritania towards democracy in 2006 then retired into business, Abdelaziz remained a key player in the establishment, heading the presidential guard and acting as President Abdallahi's military advisor.

- Abdelaziz was one of four military officers dismissed by the president in the morning of Aug. 6. He responded by arresting the president and prime minister, and took up leadership of the State Council which has taken control of the country. The State Council issued a "Communique No. 1" revoking the army dismissals.