Mohamed Khider

Last updated • 2 min readFrom Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia
Mohamed Khider
Mohamed-Khider (cropped).png
Born(1912-03-13)March 13, 1912
DiedJanuary 4, 1967(1967-01-04) (aged 54)
Cause of death Ballistic trauma
OccupationPolitician
Known forVictim of unsolved murder

Mohamed Khider (Arabic : محمد خضر) (March 13, 1912, Biskra, Algeria – January 4, 1967, Madrid, Spain) [1] was an Algerian politician. [2]

Contents

War years and imprisonment

Mohamed Khider was one of the original leaders of the Front de Libération nationale (FLN), having been previously active in its nationalist predecessors, the Étoile Nord-Africaine and Parti du Peuple Algerien (PPA) of Messali Hadj. From 1946 to 1951 he was a member of the French National Assembly as a representative of the Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD). He played an important role during the first years of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62), mainly in representing the FLN externally. In 1956, he was part of a group of FLN politicians (Khider, Ahmad Ben Bella, Hocine Aït Ahmed, Mohamed Boudiaf and Rabah Bitat) captured by France in an airplane hijacking. Two years later, while incarcerated in France, [3] he was an elected member of the GPRA exile government, holding the symbolical post of Minister of State. He was released as Algeria became independent in 1962.

Backing and opposing Ben Bella

After returning to Algeria, Khider joined Ahmed Ben Bella and the FLN army's chief of staff, Col. Houari Boumédiène, in forming a Political Bureau of the FLN to replace the GPRA, over which they had no control. Boumédiène's army, built up outside the war zone in Morocco and Tunisia, quashed resistance among GPRA loyalists and guerrilla units inside Algeria, as it moved in from its border area bases.

Khider then took on the role of Secretary-General of the post-war Party of FLN, with control over finances, but quickly fell out with President Ben Bella. Among the causes were political differences, personal rivalries, and opposition to Ben Bella's increasingly autocratic rule. Ben Bella refused Khider's requests to allow the FLN into the decision-making process and replaced him as secretary-general.

Exile and death

In 1963, Khider went into exile in Switzerland, bringing $12 million (or $14 million [4] ) of party funds with him, saying they would be used to finance a political opposition to continue the "genuine" nationalist tradition of the FLN. In 1967, he was assassinated in Madrid, Spain. [5] Most observers blamed his death on Col. Boumédiène, who had toppled Ben Bella two years earlier, and to whom Khider had declared his continued opposition.

He was posthumously rehabilitated by Boumédiène's successor, Chadli Bendjedid, in 1984.

See also

Related Research Articles

The History of Algeria from 1962 to 1999 includes the period starting with preparations for independence and the aftermath of the independence war with France in the 1960s to the Civil War and the 1999 presidential election.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Boudiaf</span> Algerian politician

Mohamed Boudiaf, also called Si Tayeb el Watani, was an Algerian political leader and one of the founders of the revolutionary National Liberation Front (FLN) that led the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962). Boudiaf was exiled soon after Algerian independence, and did not go back to Algeria for 27 years. He returned in 1992 to accept a position of Chairman of the High Council of State, but was assassinated four months later.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">National Liberation Front (Algeria)</span> Political party in Algeria

The National Liberation Front commonly known by its French acronym FLN, is a nationalist political party in Algeria. It was the principal nationalist movement during the Algerian War and the sole legal and ruling political party of the Algerian state until other parties were legalised in 1989.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Ben Bella</span> President of Algeria from 1963 to 1965

Ahmed Ben Bella was an Algerian politician, soldier and socialist revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 and then the first president of Algeria from 15 September 1963 to 19 June 1965.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Houari Boumédiène</span> President of Algeria from 1976 to 1978

Houari Boumédiène was an Algerian military officer and politician who was the second head of state of independent Algeria from 1965 until his death in 1978. He served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Algeria from 19 June 1965 until 12 December 1976 and thereafter as president of Algeria until his death.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ferhat Abbas</span> Algerian pharmacist, writer and politician

Ferhat Abbas was an Algerian politician who acted in a provisional capacity as the then yet-to-become independent country's Prime Minister from 1958 to 1961, as well as the first President of the National Assembly and the first acting Chief of State after independence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hocine Aït Ahmed</span> Algerian politician

Hocine Aït Ahmed was an Algerian politician. He was founder and leader until 2009 of the historical political opposition in Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Krim Belkacem</span> Algerian revolutionary fighter and politician

Krim Belkacem was the historic leader of the National Liberation Front during the Algerian War. As vice-president of the GPRA, he was the sole signatory of the Évian Accords on the Algerian side. After the 1965 coup d'état, he went into exile and was assassinated in Germany in 1970.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic</span> 1958–1962 government-in-exile of the National Liberation Front

The Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic was the government-in-exile of the Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) during the latter part of the Algerian War of Independence (1954–1962).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oujda Group</span> Gathering in Algeria during its War of Independence

The Oujda group, also known as the Oujda clan, was a group of military officers and politicians in Algeria that operated during the Algerian War (1954–62). After the independence of Algeria, the Oujda group dominated Algerian politics after the Algerian summer crisis in 1962.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sadek Hadjeres</span> Algerian politician (1928–2022)

Sadek Hadjerès was an Algerian politician of the Algerian Communist Party.

Abdelhamid Mehri was an Algerian resistance fighter, soldier and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lakhdar Ben Tobbal</span> Algerian resistance fighter

Slimane Bentebal, better known as Lakhdar Bentobal, is a former Algerian resistance fighter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ahmed Francis</span> Algerian politician

Ahmed Francis was an Algerian politician and nationalist, born in Relizane in a family originally from Miliana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mhamed Yazid</span> Algerian politician

Mhamed Yazid was an Algerian independence activist and politician. He joined the nationalist Parti du Peuple Algérien (PPA) in 1942, and later, after moving to Paris, France for university studies, joined its successor organization, the MTLD, where he became a member of the central committee. He was arrested in 1948 and sentenced to two years of prison for "carrying suspicious documents". He later led hunger strikes in prison.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Saïd Mohammedi</span> Algerian Axis collaborator and politician

Colonel Saïd Mohammedi, also known as Si Nacer, was an Algerian nationalist and politician.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mohamed Lamine Debaghine</span> Algerian politician and independence activist

Dr. Mohamed Lamine Debaghine was an Algerian politician and independence activist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Algeria–Yugoslavia relations</span> Bilateral relations

Algeria–Yugoslavia relations were historical foreign relations between Algeria and now split-up Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. Both countries self-identified with the wider Mediterranean region and shared membership in the Non-Aligned Movement. During the Algerian War Yugoslavia provided significant logistical and diplomatic support to the Algerian side which affected its intra-European relations with France. Yugoslavia was the first European country to openly support the FLN.

Ahmed Mahsas was an Algerian militant in the nationalist movement against French Algeria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1962 Algerian crisis</span> Period of political unrest in Algeria

The 1962 Algerian crisis, also known as the 1962 Algerian coup d'état, was a period of political unrest that happened after Algeria gained independence from France on 5 July 1962. It was a power struggle between factions within the National Liberation Front. It involved the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic headed by Benyoucef Benkhedda against the Oujda Group headed by Ahmed Ben Bella.

References

  1. Lobban, Richard A. Jr.; Dalton, Chris H. (2017-01-26). African Insurgencies: From the Colonial Era to the 21st Century. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   9781440839955. Archived from the original on 2023-04-06. Retrieved 2024-05-22.
  2. "Mohamed Khider, Algerian Politician. Portrait de l'homme politique..." Getty Images. Archived from the original on 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  3. "Algeria - The Algerian War of Independence". Encyclopedia Britannica. Archived from the original on 2017-11-17. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  4. "Milestones: Jan. 13, 1967". Time. 1967-01-13. ISSN   0040-781X. Archived from the original on 2019-11-12. Retrieved 2019-11-12.
  5. Studies, American University (Washington, D. C. ) Foreign Area (1979). Algeria, a Country Study. [Department of Defense], Department of the Army. Archived from the original on 2024-05-22. Retrieved 2024-05-22.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)