Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika (; ; 2 March 1937 – 17 September 2021) was an Algerian politician and diplomat who served as the seventh president of Algeria from 1999 until his resignation in 2019, following mass protests.

Before his stint as an Algerian politician, Bouteflika served during the Algerian War as a member of the National Liberation Front. After Algeria gained its independence from France, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1963 until 1979. He served as President of the United Nations General Assembly during the 1974–1975 session. In 1983 he was convicted of stealing millions of dinars from Algerian embassies during his diplomatic career.

In 1999, Bouteflika was elected president of Algeria in a landslide victory. He would win re-elections in 2004, 2009, and 2014. As President, he presided over the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002 when he took over the project of his immediate predecessor President Liamine Zéroual, and he ended emergency rule in February 2011 amidst regional unrest. Following a stroke in 2013, Bouteflika had made few public appearances throughout his fourth term, making his final appearance in 2017. Following his resignation, Bouteflika became a recluse and died at the age of 84 in 2021, over two years after his resignation. He was the son of Mansouria Ghezlaoui and Ahmed Bouteflika from Tlemcen, Algeria. He had three half-sisters (Fatima, Yamina, and Aïcha), as well as four brothers (Abdelghani, Mustapha, Abderahim, and Saïd) and one sister (Latifa). 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, Abdelaziz grew up in Oujda, where his father had emigrated as a youngster. He successively attended three schools in Oudja: Sidi Ziane, El Hoceinia, and Abdel Moumen High Schools, where he reportedly excelled academically. In 1957–1958, he was designated a controller of Wilaya V, In 1960, he was assigned to leading the Malian Front in the Algerian south and became known for his nom de guerre of Abdelkader al-Mali, which has survived until today.

Career

left|thumb|204x204px|Bouteflika (fourth from left) in 1965

Following 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 Minister for Foreign Affairs. Bouteflika continued as Minister for Foreign Affairs until the death of President Boumédienne in 1978. becoming the youngest person to have done so. Algeria at this time was a leader of the Non-Aligned Nations Movement. He had discussions there with Henry Kissinger in the first talks between the United States and Algerian officials since the resumption of diplomatic relations between the two countries.

On 12 November 1974, in his capacity as president of the General Assembly, Bouteflika suspended the then Apartheid government of South Africa from participating in the 29th session of the UN. The suspension was challenged by the US, but upheld by the assembly by a vote of 91 to 22 on 13 November.

In 1981, he was charged with 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.

Succession struggle, corruption and exile

left|thumb|Bouteflika (second from right) at the 1979 Arab League summit in Baghdad, with [[Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad and Abdul Halim Khaddam]]

Following Boumédienne's unexpected death in 1978, Bouteflika was seen as one of the two main candidates to succeed the powerful president. In the end, the military opted for a compromise candidate, the senior army colonel Chadli Bendjedid.

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.

First term as President, 1999–2004

thumb|206x206px|[[Vladimir Putin and Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Kremlin, Moscow, on 4 April 2001]]

In 1999, after Zéroual unexpectedly stepped down and announced early elections, Bouteflika successfully ran for president as an independent candidate, supported by the military. 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. He also secured a friendship treaty with nearby Spain in 2002, and welcomed president Jacques Chirac of France on a state visit to Algiers in 2003. This was intended as a prelude to the signature of a friendship treaty.

Second term as President, 2004–2009

On 8 April 2004, Bouteflika 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.

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

The first year of Bouteflika's second term implemented the Complementary Plan for Economic Growth Support (PCSC), which aimed for the construction of 1 million housing units, the creation of 2 million jobs, the completion of the East–west highway, the completion of the Algiers subway project, the delivery of the new Algiers airport, and other similar large scale infrastructure projects.

The PCSC totaled $60 billion of spending over the five-year period. Bouteflika also aimed to bring down the external debt from $21 billion to $12 billion in the same time. However, Bouteflika subsequently stepped back from this position and supported amendments to the hydrocarbon law in 2006, which propose watering down some of the clauses of the 2005 legislation relating to the role of Sonatrach, the state owned oil & gas company, in new developments.

Foreign policy

thumb|209x209px|Abdelaziz Bouteflika meets the [[President of Brazil, Lula da Silva, on a state visit to Brasília, in 2005.]]

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.

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.

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

thumb|204x204px|Bouteflika with [[President of Russia Vladimir Putin at Houari Boumedienne Airport in Algiers on 10 March 2006.]]

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."

On 16 July 2009, President of Vietnam Nguyễn Minh Triết, met with Bouteflika on the sidelines of the 15th Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) summit in Egypt.

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.

In sub-Saharan Africa, a major concern of Bouteflika's Algeria had 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. Belkhadem then announced plans that violate the Algerian Constitution to allow the President to run for office indefinitely and increase his powers. This was widely regarded as aimed to let Bouteflika run for president for a third term.

The Council of Ministers announced on 3 November 2008 that the planned constitutional revision proposal would remove the presidential term limit previously included in Article 74. The People's National Assembly endorsed the removal of the term limit on 12 November 2008; only the Rally for Culture and Democracy (RCD) voted against its removal.

Third term as President, 2009–2014

thumb|213x213px|Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Tlemcen, 24 May 2011

thumb|212x212px|Bouteflika with U.S. Secretary of State [[Hillary Clinton, Algiers, in 2012]]

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. On 10 April 2009, it was announced that Bouteflika had won the election with 90.24% of the vote, on a turnout of 74%, 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". In February 2011, the government rescinded the state of emergency that had been in place since 1992 but still banned all protest gatherings and demonstrations.

Fourth term as President, 2014–2019

left|thumb|212x212px|Bouteflika with U.S. Secretary of State [[John Kerry, Algiers, in 2014]]

Following yet another constitutional amendment, allowing him to run for a fourth term, Bouteflika announced that he would. On 18 April 2014, he was re-elected with 81% of the vote, while Benflis was second placed with 12.18%. The turnout was 51.7%, down from the 75% turnout in 2009. 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. Bouteflika was admitted to a clinic at Grenoble in France in November 2014. In November 2016, he was hospitalized in France for medical checks.

thumb|217x217px|[[Mohammad Hamid Ansari|Mohamad Hamid Ansari with Abdelaziz Bouteflika in Algiers, October 19, 2016]]

On 20 February 2017, the German Chancellor Angela Merkel canceled her trip to Algeria an hour before takeoff, reportedly because Bouteflika had severe bronchitis.

In June 2017, Bouteflika made a rare, and brief, appearance on Algerian state television presiding over a cabinet meeting with his new government. Bouteflika was reliant on a wheelchair and had not given a speech in public since 2014 due to aphasia following his stroke. That same year, he made his final public appearance while unveiling a new metro station and the newly renovated Ketchaoua Mosque in Algiers.

Candidacy for fifth term, protests, and resignation

left|thumb|224x224px|Algerians gathered in Paris on 17 March 2019 to protest against the President Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

On 10 February 2019, a press release signed by the long-ailing Bouteflika announcing he would seek a fifth consecutive term provoked widespread discontent.

On 11 March 2019, after sustained protests, Bouteflika announced that he would not seek a new term. However, his withdrawal from the elections was not enough to end the protests. Acceding to demands by the army chief of staff, he ultimately resigned a day later, on 2 April 2019.

Following his resignation, Bouteflika resumed his reclusiveness and made no public appearances due to failing health. Bouteflika spent his final years in a medicalised state residence in Zéralda, a suburb of Algiers. He also had a private residence in El Biar.

Personal life and death

In November 2005, Bouteflika was admitted to a hospital in France, reportedly had a gastric ulcer hemorrhage, and discharged three weeks later. However, the length of time for which Bouteflika remained virtually incommunicado led to rumours that he was critically ill with stomach cancer. He checked into the hospital again in April 2006.

A leaked diplomatic cable revealed that, by the end of 2008, Bouteflika had developed stomach cancer.

In 2013, Bouteflika had a debilitating stroke. A journalist, Hichem Aboud, was pursued for "threatening national security, territorial integrity, and normal management of the Republic's institutions" and the newspapers for which he wrote were censored, because he wrote that the President had returned from Val-de-Grâce in a "comatose state" and had characterized Saïd Bouteflika as the puppet-master running the administration.

On 17 September 2021 Bouteflika died at his home in Zéralda from cardiac arrest at the age of 84.

His death was announced by a statement from the office of President Abdelmadjid Tebboune. He had been in failing health since he had a stroke in 2013. He was buried at the El Alia Cemetery on 19 September in a subdued ceremony.

Criticism

Bouteflika's rule was marred by allegations of fraud and vote-tampering at elections from 1999 to 2019. He had already been convicted in 1983 of corruption. Per Suisse secrets he held an account, during much of his presidency with a maximum balance worth over 1.4 million Swiss francs ($1.1 million) along with other family members.

State honours

{| class="wikitable"

!style="text-align: center;| Ribbon bar !! Country !! Honour !! Date

| 70px || || Grand Collar of the National Order of Merit || 27 April 1999 (ex-officio)

| 70px || || Knight Grand Cross with Collar Order of Merit of the Italian Republic || 15 November 1999

| 70px || || Medal of the Order of José Martí || 6 May 2001

| 70px || || Collar of the Order of Civil Merit || 5 October 2002

| 70px || || Grand Collar of the Order of Prince Henry || 14 January 2003

| 70px || || Grand Star of the Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria || 17 June 2003

| 70px || || Grand Cross with Diamonds of the Order of the Sun of Peru || 18 May 2005

| 70px || || Grand Collar of the Order of the Southern Cross || 2 February 2006

| 70px || || Grand Cross of the Grand Order of Mugunghwa || 11 March 2006

| 70px || || Medal of the Order of Friendship || 2006

| 70px || || Grand Cross with Chain of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Hungary || 30 May 2007

| 70px || || Grand Cross of the Order of Francisco de Miranda || 2009

| 70px || || Recipient of the Order of the Star of Palestine || 22 December 2014

| Order of the Republic (Tunisia) - ribbon bar|70px || || Grand Cordon of the Order of the Republic || 2015

| 70px || || Grand Cross of the National Order of Mali || 31 August 2015

| 70px || || Honorary Companions of Honour with Collar of the National Order of Merit || 20 January 2016

| 70px || || Grand Cross of the Order of the Republic of Serbia || 5 February 2016