Nouakchott - The former head of a military junta who ruled Mauritania from 2005 until 2007 announced his candidacy for the upcoming presidential election on Saturday.
"I am a candidate in the presidential election," Colonel Ely Ould Mohamed Vall told reporters at his home in the Mauritanian capital Nouakchott.
His declaration came two days after military rulers and opposition leaders in the poor west African nation signed an agreement to end months of political crisis following a coup last August.
The accord involves: the resignation of Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, Mauritania's first democratically elected president who was toppled in the coup; the formation of a national unity government; and a presidential election on July 18.
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Colonel Vall seized power himself in a coup in 2005, but lived up to his promise to stand aside after two years and hold Mauritania's first fully democratic elections.
He poured scorn on last year's coup by General Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz, his cousin and former ally with whom he has reputedly fallen out, saying it was "wrong and there was no reason for it".
Describing his transitional 2005-2007 rule as a success, he said "after 15 months there was this accident, this coup which has provoked a particularly dangerous situation in our country".
The colonel did not mention Abdel Aziz by name but insisted: "My candidacy is not a candidacy against anyone, against the ambition of anyone, against the personality of anyone."
Vall, who was wearing a traditional white boubou robe, dismissed suggestions he would struggle due to not having a party machine behind him, but said he was open to offers.
"I have the largest political party in the country, that is the Mauritanian people.
"If the coup had not happened, I would probably no longer be interested in public affairs," he said, vowing to "work to build a reconciled country that is politically and economically viable and stable".
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