17 Facts About Chadli Bendjedid

Chadli Bendjedid was an Algerian military officer and politician who served as the third President of Algeria.

Chadli Bendjedid was appointed Secretary General of the National Liberation Front in January 1979 and was elected president the following month.

Chadli Bendjedid resigned from the presidency in January 1992 following a disputed election and military coup, leading to the Algerian Civil War.

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

Chadli Bendjedid served in the French Army as a non-commissioned officer and fought in Indochina.

Chadli Bendjedid defected to the National Liberation Front at the beginning of the Algerian War of Independence in 1954.

Chadli Bendjedid 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 Evian Accords, and the monitoring of the frontier between Algeria and Morocco which was the site of significant tension.

Chadli Bendjedid was minister of defense from November 1978 to February 1979 and became president following the death of Boumedienne.

Chadli 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.

Chadli Bendjedid was a prominent member of the Oujda group and regarded as a pro-Western liberal.

In office, Chadli Bendjedid reduced the state's role in the economy and eased government surveillance of citizens.

In October 1988, youth marches protesting the regime's austerity policies and shouting slogans against Chadli Bendjedid, evolved into massive rioting now known as the 1988 October Riots which spread to Oran, Annaba and other cities; the military's brutal suppression of the rioters left several hundred dead.

Chadli Bendjedid was put under house arrest in Oran but freed in 1999 after the rise to the presidency of Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

Chadli Bendjedid believed the constitution gave him the power to do so, but he failed to win over the support of the military establishment.

Chadli Bendjedid returned to the public eye in late 2008 when he gave a controversial speech at a conference in Al-Tarif, his hometown.

Chadli Bendjedid was hospitalized in Paris in January 2012 for cancer treatment and returned to hospital again in May and October 2012.

On 3 October 2012, Chadli Bendjedid was admitted to the intensive care unit of a military hospital in Ain-Naadja in Algiers.