Ahmed Ben Bella
Mohamed Ahmed Ben Bella (Muhammad Ahmad Bin Balla) () (born
December 25 1918?,
Maghnia,
Algeria) was the first
President of Algeria, and seen by many as the
Father of the Nation. Ben Bella was born in a small village in western Algeria during the height of the
French colonial period to a
Sufi Muslim family.
During the
Second World War he served in the
Free French army, and was decorated for bravery. He was one of the founding members of the
Front de Libération Nationale. He was arrested by the French in
1956, after his airplane had been controversially intercepted and brought to France, and spent until
1962 in prison. While in prison he was elected a vice-premier of the Algerian
provisional government. Ben Bella's first language was
French, not
Arabic, and it was not until he travelled to
Egypt while trying to gain support for the Algerian independence struggle that he actually learned Arabic. While in Egypt, Ben Bella met the Egyptian president,
Gamel Abdel Nasser. When Nasser brought Ben Bella to speak for the first time to an Egyptian audience, he broke into tears because he could not speak
Arabic. It has been said that he refused to teach his own daughter French because he wanted her to learn Arabic first and not be in the same position he was. Like many
Arab militants of the time, he would come to describe himself as a "
Nasserist" and developed close ties to Egypt even before independence was achieved. Nasser's material, emotional and political support of the Algerian movement would come to cause him troubles, as it played a major role in France's choice to wage war on him during the
1956 Suez Crisis.
After
Algeria's independence was recognized, Ben Bella quickly became more popular, and thereby more powerful. In June 1962, he challenged the leadership of Premier
Benyoucef Ben Khedda; this led to several disputes among his rivals in the FLN, which were quickly suppressed by Ben Bella's rapidly growing number of supporters, most notably within the armed forces. By September, Bella was in control of Algeria by all but name, and was elected as premier in a one-sided election on
20 September, which was recognized by the United States on
September 29.
Algeria was admitted as the 109th member of the
United Nations on
8 October 1962. Afterwards, Ben Bella declared that Algeria would follow a neutral course in world politics; within a week he met with
U.S. President John F. Kennedy requesting more aid for
Algeria, and with
Fidel Castro, expressing approval of Castro's demands for the abandonment of
Guantanamo Bay, and returned to Algeria requesting that
France withdraw from its bases there.
In
1963 he was elected President in an uncontested election, and also led Algeria's costly but ultimately victorious defense against Moroccan invasion in the
Sand war. After stabilizing the country, Ben Bella embarked on a series of popular but somewhat anarchic land reforms to the benefit of landless farmers, and increasingly turned to socialist rhetoric. In balancing factions within the Algerian government, notably the FLN army, the former guerrillas and the state bureaucracy, his rule became increasingly autocratic. Eccentric and arrogant behaviour towards colleagues is said to have alienated many former supporters, and, while he promoted the development of his own cult of personality, by
1964 he was dedicating more time to foriegn affairs than local political developments. In
1965, Ben Bella was deposed by army strongman and close friend
Houari Boumédiènne in
1965, and placed under house arrest until
1980, when he was granted exile in
Switzerland. He lived for 10 years in
Lausanne, but was allowed to return to his homeland in
1990.
Ben Bella was elected President of the
International Campaign Against Aggression on Iraq at its
Cairo Conference. Ben Bella has described himself numerous times in interviews as an
Islamist of a mild and peace loving flavor. Despite his former
one party state he now vocally advocates democracy in Algeria. He has described the militant voice rising in the Islamic world as having developed from an incorrect and faulty interpretation of
Islam. He is a controversial figure, but widely respected for his role in the anti-colonial struggle, and seen by many Arab intellectuals as one of the last original
Arab nationalists.
Suez triangle*
Ben Bella's biography from rulers.org*
Profile of the ruler*
French Biography*
Spartacus Source*
Africa Database*
BBC on June 20, 1965 - on the coup against Ben Bella.
*
The liberation of the people in the South is still unachieved by Ahmed Ben bella,
Voltaire Network, 9 May 2006.
