Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika was born on 2 March 1937 in Oujda, French Protectorate in Morocco. He is the son of Mansouria Ghezlaoui and Ahmed Bouteflika from Tlemcen, Algeria. He has three half-sisters (Fatima, Yamina, and Aïcha), as well as four brothers (Abdelghani, Mustapha, Abderahim and Saïd) and one sister (Latifa).[4] Saïd Bouteflika, 20 years his junior, would later be appointed special counselor to his brother in 1999. Unlike Saïd, who was raised mostly in Tlemcen,[5] Abdelaziz grew up in Oujda, where his father had emigrated as a youngster.[4] The son of a zaouia sheikh, he was well-versed in the Qur'an.[6] He successively attended three schools in Oudja: Sidi Ziane, El Hoceinia, and Abdel Moumen High Schools, where he reportedly excelled academically.[4] He was also affiliated with Qadiriyya Zaouia in Oujda.[4]

In 1956, Bouteflika went to the village of Ouled Amer near Tlemcen and subsequently joined—at the age of 19—the National Liberation Army, which was a military branch of the National Liberation Front.[4] He received his militarily education at the École des Cadres in Dar El Kebdani, Morocco. In 1957–1958, he was designated a controller of Wilaya V,[4] making reports on the conditions at the Moroccan border and in west Algeria, but later became the administrative secretary of Houari Boumédiène. He became one of his closest collaborators and a core member of his Oujda Group.[7]^:12[8] In 1960, he was assigned with leading the Malian Front in the Algerian south and became known with his nom de guerre of Abdelkader al-Mali, which has survived until today.[6] In 1962, at the arrival of independence, he aligned with Boumédienne and the border armies in support of Ahmed Ben Bella against the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic.[9]

Bouteflika (second from right) at the 1978 Arab League summit in Baghdad, with Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad and Abdul Halim Khaddam

After independence in 1962, Bouteflika became deputy for Tlemcen in the Constituent Assembly and Minister for Youth and Sport in the government led by Ahmed Ben Bella; the following year, he was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs. He was later a prime mover in the military coup led by Houari Boumediene that overthrew Ben Bella on 19 June 1965.[10] Bouteflika continued as Minister for Foreign Affairs until the death of President Boumédienne in 1978.[9]

He has also served as president of the United Nations General Assembly in 1974 and of the seventh special session in 1975.[11] While in these posts he came in for severe criticism from the United States for what it regarded as politically partisan decisions. Algeria at this time was a leader of the Non-Aligned nations movement.[12] He discussed there with Henry Kissinger in the first talk between US and Algerian officials since the diplomatic relations between these two countries have resumed.[13]

In 1981, he was sued for having stolen Algerian embassies' money between 1965 and 1979. On 8 August 1983, Bouteflika was convicted by the Court of Financial Auditors and found guilty of having fraudulently taken 60 million dinars during his diplomatic career. In his defence Bouteflika said that he "reserved" that money to build a new building for the foreign affairs ministry, but the court judged his argument as "fallacious". In 1979, just after the death of Boumédiène, Bouteflika reimbursed 12,212,875.81 dinars out of the 70 million dinars that was deposited in a Swiss bank. Although Bouteflika was granted amnesty by President Chadli Bendjedid, his colleagues Senouci and Boudjakdji were jailed. After the amnesty, Bouteflika was given back his diplomatic passport, a villa where he used to live but did not own and all his debt was erased. He never paid back the money "he reserved for a new foreign affairs ministry's building".[14]

Following Boumédienne's unexpected death in 1978, Bouteflika was seen as one of the two main candidates to succeed the powerful president. Bouteflika was thought to represent the party's "right wing" that was more open to economic reform and rapprochement with the West. Colonel Mohamed Salah Yahiaoui represented the "boumédiennist" left wing.[15] In the end, the military opted for a compromise candidate, the senior army colonel Chadli Bendjedid. Bouteflika was reassigned the role of Minister of State, but successively lost power as Bendjedid's policies of "de-Boumédiennisation" marginalised the old guard.[9]

After six years abroad, the army brought him back to the Central Committee of the FLN in 1989, after the country had entered a troubled period of unrest and disorganised attempts at reform, with power-struggles between Bendjedid and a group of army generals paralysing decision-making. In 1992, the reform process ended abruptly when the army took power and scrapped elections that were about to bring the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front to power. This triggered a civil war that would last throughout the 1990s. During this period, Bouteflika stayed on the sidelines, with little presence in the media and no political role. In January 1994, Bouteflika is said to have refused the Army's proposal to succeed the assassinated president, Mohamed Boudiaf; he claimed later that this was because the army would not grant him full control over the armed forces. Instead, General Liamine Zéroual became President.[9]

Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the G8 family photo, 2010

Abdelaziz Bouteflika meets Dmitry Medvedev in the United States, 25 September 2009

In 1999, Zéroual unexpectedly stepped down and announced early elections. The reasons behind his decision remain unclear, but it is widely claimed that his pro-reconciliation policies towards the Islamist insurgency had incurred the wrath of a hard-line faction in the armed forces; or that some other disagreement with the military, which still dominated politics, lay behind the schism. Bouteflika ran for president as an independent candidate, supported by the military. He was elected with 74% of the votes, according to the official count. All other candidates withdrew from the election immediately prior to the vote, citing fraud concerns. Bouteflika subsequently organised a referendum on his policies to restore peace and security to Algeria (involving amnesties for Islamist guerrillas) and to test his support among his countrymen after the contested election. He won with 81% of the vote, but this figure was also disputed by opponents.[9]

On 8 April 2004, he was re-elected by an unexpectedly high 85% of the vote in an election that was accepted by Western observers as a free and fair election. This was contested by his rival and former Chief of Staff Ali Benflis. Several newspapers alleged that the election had not been fair.[16] Frustration was expressed over extensive state control over the broadcast media. The electoral victory was widely seen as a confirmation of Bouteflika's strengthening control over the state, cemented through forcing General Mohammed Lamari to resign as his chief of staff and replacing him "with Ahmed Salah Gaid, his close friend and ally."[7]

Only 17% of people in Kabylie voted in 2004,[16] which represented a significant increase over the violence-ridden legislative elections of 2002.[17] Country-wide, the registered turnout rate was 59%.[16]

Foreign policy

Bouteflika with then President of Russia Vladimir Putin at Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers on 10 March 2006.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika and George W. Bush exchange handshakes (Tōyako Town, on 7 July 2008). With them are President Dmitriy Medvedev, left, and Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda, right.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika meets the President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, on a state visit to Brasília, in 2005.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika meets the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner

During Bouteflika's second term he was sharply critical of the law—passed after the 2005 French riots—ordering French history school books to teach that French colonisation had positive effects abroad, especially in North Africa. The diplomatic crisis which ensued delayed the signing of a friendship treaty between the two countries.[19]

Ties to Russia were strengthened and Russia agreed to forgive debts if Algeria began buying arms and gave Russian gas companies (Gazprom, Itera, and Lukoil access to joint fossil-fuel ventures in Algeria.[20]

In 2004 Bouteflika organised the Arab League Summit and became President of the Arab League for one year. His calls for reform of the League did not gain sufficient support to pass in during the Algiers summit however.

At the March 2005 meeting of Arab leaders, held in Algiers, Bouteflika spoke out strongly against Israel, "The Israelis' continuous killing and refusal of a comprehensive and lasting peace, which the Arab world is calling for, requires from us to fully support the Palestinian people." Despite criticism from the west, specifically the US, Bouteflika insisted that Arab nations would reform at their own pace.[21]

Bouteflika remains active in foreign affairs, especially within the region and many of his foreign affairs policies and decisions are characterized by a “principle of non-interference” in other countries affairs. In March 2016, the foreign ministers of the Arab league voted to declare Hezbollah a terrorist organization, Bouteflika voted with Lebanon, Syria and Iraq to reject the motion.[22]

In sub-Saharan Africa, a major concern of Bouteflika's Algeria has been on-and-off Tuareg rebellions in northern Mali. Algeria has asserted itself forcefully as mediator in the conflict, perhaps underlining its growing regional influence. Algerian interest is driven by its extensive interests in the region: smuggling routes as well as legal economic activity crosses these virtually unguarded borderlands, and refugees from the conflict have entered southern Algeria to mix with the Tuareg populations there. Also, the area is known as a hideout of a southern branch of AQIM, further heightening Algeria's interest in the area. Compromise peace agreements were reached in 2007 and 2008, both mediated by Algiers. The related Touareg revolt in neighbouring Niger has not seen the same Algerian involvement, even if the anti-government MNJ movement has on at least one occasion called for Algerian mediation similar to in Mali. Algeria's involvement in Africa has otherwise been concerned with supporting the African Union, and been marked by a rapidly strengthening coordination with South Africa, which, among other things, has emerged as Algeria's main ally on the Western Sahara issue.

All in all, Algeria's foreign policy under Bouteflika remains hinged on same axis as under earlier governments, emphasizing South–South ties, especially with growing Third World powers (China, South Africa, Brazil, etc.) and guarding the country's independence in decision-making vis-a-vis the West, although simultaneously striving for good trade relations and non-confrontational political relations with the EU and USA.

President of Vietnam Nguyễn Minh Triết, on 16 July 2009, met with Bouteflika on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Egypt. President Triet and Bouteflika agreed that the two countries still have great potential for development of political and trade relations. Triet thanked the Algerian government for creating favourable conditions for the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group to invest in oil and gas exploration and exploitation in Algeria.[23]

Following the constitutional amendment allowing him to run for a third term, on 12 February 2009, Bouteflika announced his independent candidacy in the 2009 presidential election.[35] On 10 April 2009, it was announced that Bouteflika had won the election with 90.24% of the vote, on a turnout of 74%,[36] thereby obtaining a new five-year term. Several opposition parties had boycotted the election, with the opposition Socialist Forces Front citing a "tsunami of massive fraud."[36]

Following yet another constitutional amendment, allowing him to run for a fourth term, Bouteflika announced that he would. He met the electoral law requiring a candidate to collect over 60,000 signatures from supporters in 25 provinces.[42] He very seldom appeared in person on the campaign trail. On 18 April 2014, he was re-elected with 81% of the vote, while Benflis was second placed with 12.18%.[43] The turnout was 51.7%, down from the 75% turnout in 2009.[44] Several opposition parties boycotted the election again, resulting in allegations of fraud.

Bouteflika cabled his congratulations to freshly-reelected Bashar al-Assad on 19 April 2014.[45]

On 20 February 2017, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel canceled her trip to Algeria an hour before takeoff, reportedly because Bouteflika was suffering from severe bronchitis.[46]

In June 2017, Bouteflika made a rare, and brief, appearance on Algerian state television presiding over a cabinet meeting with his new government. In a written statement, he ordered the government to reduce imports, curb spending, and be wary of foreign debt. He called for banking sector reform and more investment in renewable energy and "unconventional fossil hydrocarbons."[47] Bouteflika is wheelchair-bound and has not given a speech in public since 2014 due to aphasia following his stroke.[48]

On 10 February 2019, a press release signed by long-ailing Bouteflika announcing he would seek a fifth consecutive term provoked widespread discontent. Youth protesters demanded his picture be removed from city halls in Kenchela and Annaba in the days before the national demonstrations on 22 February, organized via social media.[39] Those in Algiers, where street protests are illegal, were the biggest in nearly 18 years. Protestors ripped down a giant poster of Bouteflika from the landmark Algiers central post office.[49][50]

On 11 March 2019, after sustained protests, Bouteflika announced that he would not seek a new term.[51] However, his withdrawal from the elections was not enough to end the protests. On Sunday, 31 March 2019, Bouteflika along with the Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui who had taken office 20 days earlier, formed a 27-member cabinet with only 6 of the appointees being retained from the outgoing president administration. The next day, Bouteflika announced that he would resign by 28 April 2019.[52] Acceding to demands by the army chief of staff, he ultimately resigned a day later, on 2 April 2019.[53]

• Grand Master of the National Order of Merit (Algeria) (27 April 1999 – 2 April 2019)
• Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (2003)
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Southern Cross[54] (Brazil, 2005)
• Medal of the Order of José Martí (Cuba, 2016)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary (2007)
• Knight Grand Cross with Collar Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (1999)
• Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali (2015)
• Honorary Companions of Honour with Collar of the National Order of Merit (Malta) (2016)
• Collar of the State of Palestine (2016)
• Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic of Serbia (2016)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Civil Merit (Spain, 2013)
• Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry (Portugal, 14 January 2003)[55]
• Medal of the Order of Friendship (Russia, 2006)
• Grand Cordon of the Order of the Republic of Tunisia (2015)
• Grand Cross of the Order of Francisco de Miranda (Venezuela, 2009)

• Official biography (in French)

• Aussaresses, Paul (2010). The Battle of the Casbah: Terrorism and Counter-Terrorism in Algeria, 1955–1957. New York: Enigma Books. ISBN 978-1-929631-30-8.
• Holm, Ulla (2005). "Algeria: President Bouteflika's Second Term". Mediterranean Politics. 10 (1): 117–122. doi:10.1080/1362939042000338881.
• Tlemçani, Rachid (2008). "Algeria Under Bouteflika: Civil Strife and National Reconciliation" (PDF). Carnegie Papers. 7.

• (in French) Official site

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