Muhammad Bellounis

1912 - 1958

Algerian nationalist and Messalist.

Muhammad Bellounis was a staunch supporter of Messali al-Hadj and served in the Parti du Peuple Algérien (Party of the Algerian People, PPA), the Mouvement pour le Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques (Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties, MTLD), and particularly the Mouvement National Algérien (Algerian National Movement, MNA). The MNA (established in December 1954) disputed the claim of the Front de Libération Nationale (National Liberation Front, FLN) to be the only revolutionary voice of the Algerian people.

Bellounis was charged to organize a military MNA presence within Algeria. Instead of the French forces, the MNA targeted the FLN's military, the Armée de Libération Nationale (National Liberation Army, ALN). In the summer of 1955, the ALN, under the command of the fierce Colonel Amirouche (nom de guerre of Aït Hamouda), engaged Bellounis and 500 of his MNA fighters at Guenzetin, Kabylia. Bellounis and a small number of men survived the assault and escaped to the Mélouza region of Algeria, south of Kabylia, where there was still significant Messalist support. This provoked the fratricidal Mélouza massacre on 28 May 1957 by the ALN, where about 300 died, forcing Bellounis to turn to the French for logistical support.

With French assistance, Bellounis mustered 1,500 to 3,000 men by the summer of 1957 who were given their own uniforms and flag. Bellounis named this force, which Messali did not officially embrace, the Armée Nationale Populaire Algérienne (or du Peuple Algérien, ANPA) and styled himself as a two-star general. At first, Bellounis succeeded against the ALN, but his counterproductively severe treatment of civilians and of his own soldiers forced the French to terminate this collaboration (known as Operation Ollivier). The French army tracked down Bellounis in July 1958 and executed him. His death signaled the end of the MNA's military threat to the FLN.

Bibliography

Horne, Alistair. A Savage War of Peace: Algeria, 1954 - 1962. New York: Penguin, 1987.

— PHILLIP C. NAYLOR