Chadli Bendjedid

Chadli Bendjedid (; ALA-LC: ash-Shādhilī bin Jadīd; 14 April 1929 – 6 October 2012) was an Algerian military officer and politician who served as the third President of Algeria. His presidential term of office ran from 9 February 1979 to 11 January 1992.

A combatant during the Algerian War, he was a member of the Revolutionary Council from 1965 to 1976 and was appointed Colonel in 1969.

He was appointed Secretary General of the National Liberation Front (FLN) in January 1979 and was elected president the following month. Bendjedid would win re-elections without competition in 1984 and 1989. He resigned from the presidency in January 1992 following a disputed election and military coup, leading to the Algerian Civil War.

He remained under house arrest until 1999 and died of cancer in 2012 at the age of 83.

Career Early life and career

Bendjedid was born in Bouteldja on 14 April 1929. He served in the French Army as a non-commissioned officer and fought in Indochina. He commanded the 2nd Military Region from 1964 to 1978, and there supervised the evacuation of French military forces stationed at Mers el-Kebir in conformity with the Évian Accords, and the monitoring of the frontier between Algeria and Morocco which was the site of significant tension.

Ascent to presidency

Bendjedid served as Minister of Defence from November 1978 to February 1979 and became president following the death of Boumédiènne.

Bendjedid was a compromise candidate who came to power after the party leadership and presidency was contested at the fourth FLN congress held on 27 - 31 January 1979. The most likely to succeed Boumediene were Mohammad Salah Yahiaoui and Abdelaziz Bouteflika: the latter had served as a foreign secretary at the United Nations for sixteen years, was a prominent member of the Oujda group and was regarded as a pro-Western liberal. Yahiaoui was closely affiliated with the communists, permitting the Parti de l'Avant-Garde Socialiste (PAGS) to acquire jurisdiction over the mass trade union and youth organisations. Perhaps as a political survival strategy, Bendjedid then called for and began to implement a transition towards multi-party democracy.

Post-presidency life Bendjedid was put under house arrest in Oran but freed in 1999 after the rise to the presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. In a 2002 interview, he revealed his willingness to accept the results of the 1991 poll and work with the FIS while avoiding their takeover of all government institutions. He believed the constitution gave him the power to do so, but he failed to win over the support of the military establishment.

He returned to the public eye in late 2008 when he gave a controversial speech at a conference in Al-Tarif, his hometown. The publication of his memoirs was announced on 1 November 2012, coinciding with the 58th anniversary of the outbreak of the War of National Liberation.

Illness and death Bendjedid was hospitalised in Paris in January 2012 for cancer treatment and returned to hospital again in May and October 2012. On 3 October 2012, Bendjedid was admitted to the intensive care unit of a military hospital in Ain-Naadja in Algiers. State-run media announced that he died of cancer on 6 October 2012. He was buried at the El Alia Cemetery.

Honours

National honours

Foreign honours