Ahmed Ben Bella
Ahmed Ben Bella was a prominent Algerian political leader and revolutionary, born in 1918 into a Sufi Muslim farming family in Algeria, then under French colonial rule. He served in the French army during World War II, earning recognition for his bravery, but later became disillusioned with French colonialism after witnessing the brutal repression of Algerian protests. In 1954, Ben Bella co-founded the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN), which played a crucial role in the Algerian War of Independence. Following the war, he became the first president of independent Algeria in 1963, advocating for socialism and pan-Arabism while navigating complex foreign relations. His presidency faced challenges, including a border conflict with Morocco and domestic unrest. In 1965, he was ousted in a coup and spent many years under house arrest before living in exile. Upon his return to Algeria in 1990, he attempted to engage in the political landscape during the civil war of the 1990s. Ben Bella remained active in political discourse and international affairs until his death in 2012 at the age of ninety-three. His legacy reflects a significant chapter in Algeria's struggle for independence and identity.
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Ahmed Ben Bella
- Born: December 25, 1918
- Birthplace: Maghnia, Algeria
- Died: April 11, 2012
Ahmed Ben Bella was one of seven children born in 1918 to a Sufi Muslim farming family in the northwest corner of Algeria, then a French colony. He joined the French army in 1937, and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for his conduct with an antiaircraft unit during the German invasion of France in 1940. He then returned to Algeria and joined a unit of the Free French forces, participating in the Allied invasion of Italy in 1944. He was later awarded the Médaille Militaire, the Free French forces' highest decoration.
On returning to Algeria in 1945, Ben Bella was offered an officer's commission, but declined it after the French brutally repressed an Algerian protest that turned violent. He instead returned to his hometown of Maghnia and entered local politics. He joined the Algerian independence movement and formed a secret paramilitary group called Organization Spéciale (OS). Arrested in 1950 after the OS robbery of Oran’s post office, Ben Bella escaped prison and fled to Egypt in 1952. In 1954 he became one of the founders of the Algerian National Liberation Front (Front de Libération Nationale, FLN), the main organization fighting for Algerian independence in the Algerian War (1954–62). With his superior organizational skills, Ben Bella established the FLN's weapons supply network.
Arrested again by the French in 1956, Ben Bella spent the next six years in a French prison, from which he was released on the eve of Algerian independence. On becoming the first president of the independent Algeria in 1963, he led the country in a border war with Morocco, while trying to impose socialism on the chaotic newly independent nation. An advocate of pan-Arabism, he oversaw domestic land reforms with mixed results, and attempted to strike a middle path in foreign relations, accepting aid from both the United States and the Soviet Union. Deposed in a coup led by former ally Houari Boumédienne in 1965, Ben Bella spent the next fourteen years under house arrest. He married in 1971. After his release in 1979, Ben Bella spent the next ten years in voluntary exile in France and Switzerland.
Ben Bella returned to Algeria in 1990 with a new political party, the Movement for Democracy in Algeria (Mouvement pour la démocratie en Algérie, MDA), and he attempted to be a moderate voice in the civil war that broke out in the 1990s between the government and Islamist rebel groups. He remained an active observer of international affairs, opposing the Iraq War and remaining an advocate for Islam while opposing Islamist terrorism. He died in Algiers in 2012 at the age of ninety-three.
Resources
Gregory, Joseph R. "Ahmed Ben Bella, Revolutionary Who Led Algeria after Independence, Dies at 93." New York Times. New York Times, 11 Apr. 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Joesten, Joachim. The New Algeria. Chicago: Follett, 1964. Print.
Joffe, Lawrence. "Ahmed Ben Bella Obituary." Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 11 Apr. 2012. Web. 7 Mar. 2016.
Merle, Robert. Ahmed Ben Bella. New York: Walker, 1967. Print.
Naylor, Phillip, and Alf Heggoy. Historical Dictionary of Algeria. Metuchen: Scarecrow, 1994. Print.