Houari Boumédienne

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Houari Boumédienne
Image:boumediene-1.jpg
Became President: 19 June 1965
Left Office: 27 December 1978
Predecessor: Ahmed Ben Bella
Successor: Chadli Bendjedid
Date of Birth: 23 August 1932
Place of Birth: Beni Addi - Guelma
Date of Death: 27 December 1978

Houari Boumédienne (original name Mohamed Ben Brahim Boukharouba) (August 23, 1932December 27, 1978) was President of Algeria from 19 June 1965 to 27 December 1978 (Chairman of the Revolutionary Council until 12 December 1976).

He was born in Heliopolis and educated at the Islamic Institute in Constantine.

He joined a guerilla unit in the Algerian War of Independence in 1955, adopting Houari Boumédienne as his nom-de-guèrre (from Abu Midyan, Arabic for "father of Midyan"). From 1960 he was chief of staff of the exiled army of the National Liberation Front (FLN).

After independence in 1962 he headed an influential military faction within the government, and was made defence minister with the support of the Algerian leader Ahmed Ben Bella. A political pragmatist, he grew increasingly distrustful of Ben Bella's autocratic style of government and ideological puritanism, and in June 1965, Boumédienne seized power in a bloodless coup. Initially lacking a personal power base, he was seen as a week ruler. But after a botched coup attempt against him by military officers in 1967 he tightened his rule, and then remained Algeria's undisputed ruler until his death in 1978.

He pursued a policy of non-alignment, maintaining good relations with both the communist bloc and the capitalist nations, and promoting third-world cooperation. A significant regional event was his 1975 pledge of support for an independent Western Sahara, admitting Sahrawi refugees and the Polisario guerilla movement to Algerian territory. This ended the possibility of mending relations with Morocco, already sour after the 1963 Sand war.

Economically, he turned away from Ben Bella's focus on rural Algeria, initiating instead a socialist programme of state-driven industrialization. Algeria had virtually no industrial production This worked out reasonably well, and Boumèdiénnes years in power were marked by economic growth, but the heavy emphasis on government planning in the economy would create lasting problems for later governments. In 1971 he nationalized the Algerian oil industry, increasing government revenue tremendously, but sparking intense protest from France.


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