Boumedienne, Houari

Boumedienne, Houari

(ho͞oär`ē bo͞omĕdēĕn`), 1932?–78, president and prime minister of Algeria (1965–78). While studying in Cairo during the early 1950s he joined a group of expatriate Algerian nationalists that included Ahmed Ben Bella. Boumedienne secretly reentered Algeria (1955) to join a group of guerrillas operating in the province of Oran. He was (1960–62) chief of staff of the exiled National Liberation Army in Tunisia and served as Algeria's minister of defense from the time of its independence. After a series of disputes with Ben Bella, Boumedienne led a coup that overthrew his former ally's government. After the coup, Boumedienne assumed the posts of president, prime minister, and chairman of the revolutionary council.

Boumédienne, Houari

 

Born Aug. 16, 1925, in Guelma. Algerian political, military, and government figure. Colonel (1957).

Boumédienne was born into a peasant family. He was educated at the universities of Zaitouna in Tunis and Azhar in Egypt and is a teacher by profession. He taught Arabic in Cairo. In 1955 he returned clandestinely to Algeria and joined the Algerian people’s armed struggle against the French colonialists. In 1958 he was appointed commander of the rebel units in Oran Province. From 1960 to 1962 Boumédienne was a member of the National Council of the Algerian Revolution and chief of the general staff of the National Liberation Army. In 1962 he became minister of national defense of the Algerian People’s Democratic Republic (APDR), and from 1963 to 1965 he was also first vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers. Since June 19, 1965, he has been chairman of the Revolutionary Council and since July 10 simultaneously chairman of the Council of Ministers and minister of national defense of the APDR. Boumédienne visited the USSR in 1963, 1965, and 1967.