Ahmed Ben Bella

Born: 1916-12-25 in Maghnia, Algeria

Ahmed Ben Bella (Arabic: أحمد بن بلة), born officially on December 25, 1916 in Maghnia near Tlemcen in Oranie, in the northwest of Algeria (then French departments), and died on April 11, 2012 in Algiers, is a fighter for Algerian independence and an Algerian statesman. He was head of government from 1962 to 1963 and then the first president of the Republic from 1963 to 1965. Ben Bella is one of the nine "historical leaders" of the Revolutionary Committee of Unity and Action (CRUA), at the origin of the National Liberation Front (FLN), an Algerian independence party. He was arrested during the Algerian War but took part in the country's independence at the head of the FLN and became the first President of the Algerian Republic on September 15, 1963, a position he combined with that of Prime Minister. He held the latter position from September 27, 1962. He was overthrown by the coup d'état of June 19, 1965 led by his Deputy Prime Minister, Colonel Houari Boumédiène. He was forced into exile from 1980 to 1990 after having been imprisoned since the coup d'état.