Boumédienne, Houari (redirected from Mohammed ben Brahim Boukharouba)

Boumédienne, Houari

 orig. Mohammed ben Brahim Boukharouba

(born Aug. 23, 1927, near Guelma, Alg.—died Dec. 27, 1978, Algiers) Algerian political leader and president (1965–78). During Algeria's fight for independence, he helped raise an Algerian army in the safety of Morocco and Tunisia. He deposed President Ahmed Ben Bella in 1965. His policies in the 1970s created tensions with Morocco and France, but he also negotiated important industrial contracts with Western nations and cultivated close relations with the Soviet bloc, becoming a leading figure in the nonaligned movement.

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Boumédienne, Houari 

Born Aug. 16, 1925, in Guelma. Algerian political, military, and government figure. Colonel (1957).

Boumédienne was born into a peasant family. He was educated at the universities of Zaitouna in Tunis and Azhar in Egypt and is a teacher by profession. He taught Arabic in Cairo. In 1955 he returned clandestinely to Algeria and joined the Algerian people’s armed struggle against the French colonialists. In 1958 he was appointed commander of the rebel units in Oran Province. From 1960 to 1962 Boumédienne was a member of the National Council of the Algerian Revolution and chief of the general staff of the National Liberation Army. In 1962 he became minister of national defense of the Algerian People’s Democratic Republic (APDR), and from 1963 to 1965 he was also first vice-chairman of the Council of Ministers. Since June 19, 1965, he has been chairman of the Revolutionary Council and since July 10 simultaneously chairman of the Council of Ministers and minister of national defense of the APDR. Boumédienne visited the USSR in 1963, 1965, and 1967.