Boumedienne, Houari

Boumedienne, Houari, Boumedienne also spelled Boumédiène (Arabic Hawwari Abu Midyan), original name Mohamed Ben Brahim Boukharouba (Muhammad Ibrahim Abu Kharruba) (b. Aug. 23, 1932 [officially; some sources indicate he was born Aug. 23, 1925 or 1927], Clauzel, near Guelma, Algeria - d. Dec. 27, 1978, Algiers), president of Algeria (1965-78). He went to Egypt to avoid conscription in the French Army. In 1955 he joined a guerrilla unit in western Algeria, adopting his nom de guerre Houari Boumedienne. The rebels divided the country into military districts, and Boumedienne commanded the one around Oran. As chief of staff of the National Liberation Front from 1960, he centred his efforts on raising an Algerian army in Morocco and Tunisia, out of reach of the French. A peace treaty was signed with France in March 1962, Ahmed Ben Bella became president, and Boumedienne was named defense minister and vice president. But Ben Bella's autocracy clashed with Boumedienne's military pragmatism, and in a June 1965 coup Boumedienne installed himself as president. Lacking widespread popular support, he at first governed through a 26-member revolutionary council. As a result his leadership was weak and indecisive, but after an attempt by military officers to overthrow his regime failed in December 1967, he asserted his direct and undisputed leadership of Algeria. In 1971 he imposed state control on the oil industry, at the cost of ending Algeria's special relationship with France. He risked war with Morocco in 1975 by trying to gain territorial access to the Atlantic across the Spanish Sahara (later Western Sahara). In 1976 his government issued a National Charter and then a new constitution, both adopted by referendum. He was a leading figure in the nonaligned movement and was chairman of the Organization of African Unity in 1968-69.