Benyoucef Benkhedda

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Benyoucef Benkhedda
بن يوسف بن خدة
Ahmed ben Bella
Head of Government of Algeria
In office
9 August 1961 – 27 September 1962
PresidentHimself
Abderrahmane Farès
Preceded byFerhat Abbas
Succeeded byAhmed Ben Bella (as Prime Minister)
Personal details
Born(1920-02-23)February 23, 1920
University of Algiers
OccupationPolitician
ProfessionPharmacist

Benyoucef Benkhedda (

exile government of the National Liberation Front (FLN), acting as a leader during the Algerian War
(1954–62). At the end of the war, he was briefly the de jure leader of the country, however he was quickly sidelined by more conservative figures.

Early life

Benyoucef Benkhedda was born in 1920 in

M'hamed Yazid. "You are the knives which we sharpen against France!" was the oft repeated cry of the college headmaster. [3]

Having received his

Algerians in the war against Germany[2]
as part of the "unsubmissives of Blida". He was released eight months later.

Algerian War

He was a member of the central committee of the

general secretary[2] between 1951 and 1954. In November 1954 he was arrested again and released in May 1955, due to the intervention of French liberals[5] (who included the Pied-Noir mayor of Algiers, Jacques Chevallier), when he joined the new National Liberation Front. He became an adviser to Abane Ramdane in Algiers. In August 1956 the Congress of Soummam appointed him a member of the Algerian National Revolutionary Council and the Committee of Action and Co-ordination of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA) along with Abane, Dahlab Larbi Ben M'hidi, and Krim Belkacem.[6]
He, Abane and Ben M'hidi comprised the political and military triumvirate which directed the revolutionary Autonomous Zone. Algiers had become the capital of the resistance.

He and Abane were responsible for the creation of many projects such as the newspaper

paratroopers of General Jacques Massu by use of the sewer system of Algiers,[5] fleeing the city after the capture of Ben M'hidi by paratroopers under Colonel Marcel Bigeard, Ben M'hidi was later killed while imprisoned by soldiers of Paul Aussaresses.[7]
He went abroad in the name of the Liberation front and accomplished much for the organisation such as visiting the capitals of the
China.[5] In a confidential letter to Richard Nolte, director of the Institute of Current World Affairs, Benkhedda is described as an "important terrorist commander" and "intellectual of Marxist formation".[10]

On August 9, 1961 he was appointed the president of the provisional government

cease-fire
was proclaimed the day before France officially recognised the national integrity of Algeria. He was welcomed as the country's leader by a jubilant Algerian population on July 3, 1962, the day that independence was recognised officially by France.

Later political career

A crisis emerged later that month between the provisional government and

granted next year). The four signatories were placed under house arrest and had their property seized. He was released in 1979.[12]

He wrote probably the most authoritative and accurate book about the twentieth century genesis of the Algerian movement for independence. "Les Origines du 1er Novembre 1954", Editions Dahlab, 1989.

Under the government of Chadli Bendjedid which claimed to be a multi-party system, also in 1989 he created 'El Oumma' with Abderahmane Kiouane and other friends from the liberation war.[2] Its objective was the implementation of the Declaration of 1 November 1954, that is: "The sovereign and democratic independent Algerian State within Islamic principles".[3]

The aim of 'El Oumma' was to work towards a coming together of the

coup
of January 1992.

Later life and popular recognition

He lived a quiet life for the rest of his days, running a pharmacy in Hydra, Algiers.

University of Algiers
was later named in his honour. He had three sons.

Bibliography

  • 1986 - Les Accords d'Evian - OPU, Algiers.
    ISBN 978-2-86600-244-2
  • 1989 - Les origines du 1er novembre 1954 - ed. Dahlab, Algiers.
  • 1997 - L'Algérie à l'indépendance: la crise de 1962 - Dahlab, Algiers.
    ISBN 978-9961-61-137-1
  • 2000 - Abane-Ben M'hidi, leur apport à la révolution algérienne - ed. Dahlab, Algiers.
    ISBN 978-9961-61-098-5
  • 2002 - Alger, capitale de la résistance 1956-1957 - ed. Houma, Algiers.
    ISBN 978-9961-66-599-2

See also

References

  1. ^ Ottaway, Professor Marina; Ottaway, David; Ottaway, Marina (December 15, 1970). "Algeria: The Politics of a Socialist Revolution". University of California Press – via Google Books.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Obituary from The Guardian, February 18, 2003
  3. ^ a b c d (in French) Fondation Benyoucef Benkhedda Archived October 9, 2007, at the Wayback Machine Biography
  4. ^ "The Brothers". Time. March 16, 1962.
  5. ^ a b c "New Team". Time. September 8, 1961.
  6. ^ "The World at War - Algeria 1945 - 1957". www.schudak.de. Retrieved 2018-02-09.
  7. ^ Paul Aussaresses, The Battle of the Casbah. p. 179
  8. ^ "Cautious Clambake". Time. September 8, 1961.
  9. S2CID 154033045
    . Retrieved 25 September 2020.
  10. ^ Letter of February 22, 1962
  11. ^ The Permanent Mission of Algeria to the UN - History
  12. ^ "Survivor of a Coup". Time. July 16, 1979.
  13. ^ New Laws Affecting the Stakes and Fairness of the Elections - Human Rights Watch April 3, 1997

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Benyoucef Benkhedda.
Political offices
Preceded by Head of the Algerian Provisional Government
1961-1962 		Succeeded byas President of the Provisional Executive Council
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