Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Born

1937-03-02

Died

2021-09-17

Birthplace

Oujda, Protectorat français au Maroc

Biography

Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Arabic: عبد العزيز بوتفليقة, in Berber: Ɛebdelɛaziz Butefliqa), born March 2, 1937 in Oujda (Morocco) and died September 17, 2021 in Zéralda (Algeria), is an Algerian statesman, President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria from April 27, 1999 to April 2, 2019. He was engaged after the injunction to students to join the National Liberation Army (ALN) in Morocco in May 1956 during the Algerian War. A member of the Oujda clan, he became friends with Houari Boumédiène, under whose leadership he quickly progressed in the administrative apparatus of the "border army". Elected as a member of parliament for Tlemcen in 1962, he was Minister of Youth, Sports and Tourism in the first Ahmed Ben Bella government, from 1962 to 1963. He then served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1963 to 1979, in the three Ahmed Ben Bella governments — whose fall he contributed to by participating in the 1965 coup d'état — and the four Houari Boumédiène governments. After Boumédiène's death, he was Minister Counselor to the President of the Republic from 1979 to 1980. Accused of extortion, he was forced into exile from 1981 to 1987. During the civil war of the 1990s, he was more moderate than President Liamine Zéroual. An independent candidate in the 1999 presidential election, Abdelaziz Bouteflika controversially won the first round, with 73.8% of the vote, after all the candidates withdrew, although their names were not removed from the ballot papers. The beginning of his presidency was marked by the end of the civil war. He was re-elected in the first round of the 2004 presidential elections (85% of the vote), 2009 (90.2%) and 2014 (81.5%). He is thus the Algerian head of state who has remained in office the longest. He was also Minister of Defense from 2002 and Honorary President of the National Liberation Front (FLN) from 2005. After suffering a serious stroke in 2013, his health deteriorated: his mobility was reduced and he made only rare appearances. His ability to govern the country was regularly questioned and his entourage accused of exerting considerable influence, in particular his brother Said Bouteflika, while corruption scandals erupted. As the 2019 presidential election approached, the regime found itself at an impasse in appointing a suitable successor, which prompted the FLN leaders to consider postponing the vote and keeping Bouteflika in power during this transitional period. These circumstances were conducive to the birth of major demonstrations ("Hirak"), which led to the decision of the head of state to renounce running for a fifth term and to leave the El Mouradia palace, twenty years after his accession to the presidency. Having retired from public life, Abdelaziz Bouteflika died at the age of 84, two years after his resignation from the presidency of Algeria.