Algeria’s longtime ex-President Chadli Bendjedid dead
Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid (L) attends the dinner reception with his French counterpart François Mitterrand at the Elysee Palace in Paris, during his official visit on November 8, 1983 in France.
Algerian state media today said former President Chadli Bendjedid has died at a military hospital at the age of 83, reported the Associated Press.
Bendjedid was elected president in 1979 and led the country until he was ousted in a 1992 military coup. He is credited with landmark political reforms, according to AP.
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His rule was cut short by Algeria's generals, however. They canceled the 1992 elections after an Islamist party rose to power in parliamentary elections, provoking an armed uprising that spiraled into civil war. The decade-long conflict took some 200,000 lives, said AP, during which time Bendjedid was mostly kept under house arrest, reported Now Lebanon.
He was reportedly suffering from kidney-related health problems, said AP, citing statements from relatives in state media.
Bendjedid's memoirs are set for publication on November 1, the anniversary of the 1954 Algerian war of independence, according to Now Lebanon.