Liamine Zéroual
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Liamine Zéroual | |
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اليمين زروال | |
6th President of Algeria | |
In office 31 January 1994 – 27 April 1999 Acting to 16 November 1995 | |
Prime Minister | Redha Malek Mokdad Sifi Ahmed Ouyahia Smail Hamdani |
Preceded by | Ali Kafi |
Succeeded by | Abdelaziz Bouteflika |
Minister of Defence | |
In office 10 July 1993 – 11 April 1994 | |
Preceded by | Khaled Nezzar |
Succeeded by | Abdelaziz Bouteflika |
Personal details | |
Born | Major General | 3 July 1941
Commands | Cherchell Military Academy 1981–1982 Tamanrasset Military Region 1982–1984 |
Battles/wars | Algerian War |
Liamine Zéroual (
Biography
He was born in
After disagreeing with President Chadli Bendjedid about proposals for army reorganisation, he left the ANP in 1989, and briefly became ambassador to Romania. However, after Bendjedid's forced resignation in January 1992, his career prospects became more promising. In July 1993, he became Minister of Defense; in January 1994 he was promoted to head of the High Council of State. In November 1995, he was elected President, a post which he retained until the next elections. He was reputed to be politically dialoguist, supporting a partly negotiated solution to the Algerian Civil War. On 25 December 1994 Zéroual reluctantly allowed hijacked Air France Flight 8969 to leave Algerian territory after 3 civilians, including a French embassy chef, were murdered by the four hijackers.
Although some urged Zéroual to run in the 2009 presidential election, he said in a published statement on 14 January 2009 that he would not run, while also suggesting that it was not in the best interests of democracy for President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to run for a third term.[1]
Honours
National honour
- Grand Master of the National Order of Merit
References
- ^ William Maclean, "Algeria ex-leader will not run for top job", Reuters (IOL), 14 January 2009.
External links
- MEDEA: Liamine Zeroual
- Liamine Zéroual collected news and commentary at The New York Times