Yahya Ould Ahmed El Waghef (Arabic: يحيى ولد أحمد الواقف; born 1960[1]) is a Mauritanian politician.

He was Director-General of the Mauritanian Gas Company (Societé Mauritanienne de Gaz, SOMAGAZ) from January 2003 to August 2003 and then Director of the Banc d'Arguin National Park from September 2003[1] until he was appointed as Secretary-General of the Ministry of Hydraulics and Energy on 27 October 2004.

[5] He served in that capacity until April 2005, at which point he became Director-General of Air Mauritanie, remaining in that post until December 2006.

[7] Prime Minister Zeine Ould Zeidane resigned on 6 May 2008, and Sidi Mohamed appointed Yahya to succeed him on the same day.

[14][17] In addition, Sidi Mohamed argued that Yahya's government was so new that there had not been enough time to properly evaluate its performance,[17] and he warned that he might dissolve the National Assembly if the censure motion was adopted.

[15] The deputies who supported the censure motion described the resignation and reappointment as a positive step and said that the composition of the next government should properly reflect the results of the previous election.

[23] On 4 August 2008, 25 of ADIL's 49 deputies in the National Assembly, along with 24 of its 45 senators, announced that they were leaving the party, thereby depriving it of its parliamentary majority.

[24] On 6 August 2008, Yahya was arrested in a military coup d'état along with President Sidi Mohamed and the Interior minister.

[32] He subsequently travelled to Nouadhibou in northern Mauritania in order to participate in an anti-coup protest there, but was arrested upon arrival on 21 August 2008.

According to Minister of Decentralization Yahya Ould Kebd, the junta sought to "rein in his activism", saying that "his contact with the outside will probably be limited but not banned".