1929 -

Third president of Algeria, 1979 - 1992.

Chadli Bendjedid was born near Annaba, Algeria. His father was a small landholder. A veteran of the Algerian War of Independence (1954 - 1962), Bend-jedid became a professional officer in the Armée Nationale Populaire (ANP). After his deposal of President Ahmed Ben Bella in 1965, Colonel Houari Boumédienne appointed Bendjedid to the Conseil Nationale de la Révolution Algérienne (CNRA). Bendjedid was entrusted with the command of strategic military regions - Constantine, then Oran. He also monitored French troop withdrawals, including from the strategic naval base at Mersel-Kébir in 1968. After Boumédienne's death in December 1978 Bendjedid emerged as a compromise presidential candidate within the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) and the military. He was elected president of Algeria in February 1979.

Bendjedid was less ideological than his predecessors. Characterized as a pragmatic man, Bend-jedid tempered Algeria's ambitious state-planning and foreign policy. His five-year plans emphasized more balanced sector development, with more attention to agriculture and services. He also reorganized the large state companies and encouraged smaller enterprises. In addition, he pursued tentative economic liberalization. Bendjedid also strove to realize Maghrib unity through amity treaties with Tunisia and Mauritania in 1983. Relations were restored with Morocco in 1988 after having been severed over the Western Sahara conflict. Though Western Sahara's future remained unresolved, the Arab Maghreb Union was proclaimed in February 1989. Bendjedid also was accorded a state visit to France in 1983.

Bendjedid consolidated his power internally by promoting military officers and removing Boumédiennist rivals such as Abdelaziz Bouteflika, a future president. He was reelected in 1985. The National Charter of 1976 was revised in 1986. The "enriched" charter included a section commemorating the historic struggle for independence and mentioned Messali Hadj and Ferhat Abbas, who had been previously proscribed. The revised document reaffirmed Algeria's Arab identity. This particularly dissatisfied restive Berbers, notably the Kabyles, who were fearful for the future of their distinct culture and language and had demonstrated in violent outbursts in 1980 and 1985. The continued official ideological attachment to secular socialism also alienated populist Muslims. Chronic unemployment exasperated the disillusioned younger generation. Furthermore, the collapse of oil prices, which were indexed to natural gas prices, crippled the economy. These variables contributed to widespread discontent that produced rioting in October 1988 resulting in hundreds killed and wounded and a state of siege.

Bendjedid quickly promised and delivered reforms - including political pluralism and civil rights - highlighted by the Constitution of February 1989. He was reelected president in 1989, but he failed to acquire political and popular support, as illustrated by a quick succession of prime ministers (Kasdi Merbah [1988 - 1989], Mouloud Hamrouche [1989 - 1991], and Ahmed Ghozali [1991 - 1992]). The rise of the Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) and its stunning success in regional elections in June 1990 astonished the ruling elite, but Bendjedid was determined to permit the democratic process to complete its imperfect course. Parliamentary elections in June 1991 had to be postponed, however, because of inflammatory protests and pronouncements by the FIS that were provoked by eleventh-hour gerrymandering by the FLN. The FIS's first-round electoral success in the rescheduled December 1991 elections incited a military and civilian coup in January 1992 that forced Bendjedid's resignation. He was kept under house arrest until October 1999. Since then, Bendjedid has criticized the policies of President Abdleaziz Bouteflika and has denounced the U.S.-led war against Iraq in 2003. Although Bendjedid's presidency is popularly discredited, he rehabilitated nationalists and helped restore Algeria's historical memory.

Bibliography

Entelis, John. Algeria: The Revolution Institutionalized. Boulder, CO: Westview Press, 1985.

Mortimer, Robert A. "Algeria after the Explosion." Current History 89 (April 1990): 161 - 168.

Mortimer, Robert A. "Algeria's New Sultan." Current History 80 (December 1982): 428 - 431; 433 - 434.

Naylor, Phillip C. The Historical Dictionary of Algeria, Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, 2004.

— PHILLIP C. NAYLOR

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.