What happened in the 2005 coup in Mauritania?

In August 2005, a group of army officers successfully staged a coup in Mauritania while President Maaouya Ould Sidi Ahmed Taya was out of the country.1

Col. Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, who had previously been a close ally of Ould Taya, emerged as the leader of the new ruling body, the Military Council for Justice and Democracy. Following the takeover, the council pledged to restore democracy to the nation. To fulfill this commitment, the military government presented a referendum on constitutional reforms in 2006, which voters overwhelmingly approved. These reforms included a provision that limited presidents to two consecutive five-year terms.1

The transition process culminated in the March 2007 presidential election, which resulted in Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi becoming the first democratically elected president of Mauritania.1