Yahya Ould Hademine

Yahya Ould Hademine (Arabic: يحي ولد حدمين‎‎) (born December 31, 1953 in Timbédra) is a Mauritanian political figure and engineer. He has served as the Prime Minister of Mauritania since August 21, 2014.^[1][2]

Biography

Hademine was born on December 31, 1953 in Timbédra. He received his primary education in Djigueni. Hademine attended the College of Aïoun between 1967 and 1970, and later studied at the Lycée national de Nouakchott from 1971 to 1974.^[3] After moving to Canada in 1974, he earned a degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the École Polytechnique de Montréal in 1979.^[4]

After moving back to Mauritania, he began working for the Société nationale industrielle et minière (SNIM), which mines for iron in Mauritania, and he became head of a steel mill in 1979. Between 1985 and 1988 Hademine served as Head of Department purchases for SNIM. In 1989, he was promoted to CEO of the Arab Society of Iron and Steel (SAFA), which is a subsidiary of SNIM.^[5] Hademine was appointed general manager of the Sanitation Maintenance and Transportation Works (SMTA) in 2008. He said there were too many engineers in the SMTA and the quality of work was poor. After the 2008 Mauritanian coup d'état that overthrew President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallahi, Hademine sided with the coup leaders and was allowed to keep his job.^[4] In December 2010, Hademine became Minister of Equipment and Transport.^[5] In his four years as minister, he made no significant changes.^[4]

After President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz was reelected in June 2014, he appointed Hademine to the premiership on August 21. Hademine replaces Moulaye Ould Mohamed Laghdaf, who was prime minister since 2008.^[5] Pledging to promote the participation of women in political, economic and social development, Hademine appointed seven women to his government when his formed it three days after his appointment as Prime Minister.^[6] Hademine met with Chinese Special Envoy on the Middle East Issues Gong Xiaosheng on May 19, 2015, to discuss bilateral relations.^[7] He spoke at an agriculture conference in December 2015, and emphasized that his government fully supports the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA)'s initiative to “expand wheat production in the country to enhance national food security and reduce dependence on increasing wheat imports.”^[8] In June 2016, he caused controversy when he called Ahmed Baba Ould Azizi, President of the General Confederation of Employers of Mauritania, "a terrorist, worse than Al Qaeda and Daech together."^[9]

Personal life

Hademine is married and has four children.^[3]

References

Prime Ministers of Mauritania
Colonial	Daddah
Independent	Daddah office abolished, 1961 – 1979 Bouceif† Sidi†* Haidalla† Bneijara Taya† Haidalla† Taya† Boubacar Khouna Guig Khouna M'Bareck Boubacar Zeidane Waghef Laghdaf Hamedine
*acting † military