The 1980 Mauritanian coup d'état was a military coup in Mauritania which took place on 4 January 1980. The coup was led by the Prime Minister, Colonel Mohamed Khouna Ould Haidalla, who seized power from the President, Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Mahmoud Ould Louly.[1] Haidalla had assumed the presidency of the 24-member ruling Military Committee for National Salvation (CMSN),[1][2] a military junta which was created following an earlier coup in 1979.