Kasdi Merbah (, 16 April 1938 – 21 August 1993), whose real name is Abdallah Khalef, was an Algerian politician who served as Head of Government between 5 November 1988 and 9 September 1989 when he was a member of the National Liberation Front. He was assassinated on August 21, 1993.
Biography
Kasdi Merbah was born on the 16th of April 1938 in the province of Beni Yenni. During the 1970s and early 1980s, he was the head of the Sécurité Militaire, the Algerian state intelligence service. Before the 1988 October Riots he had served as Minister of Agriculture and then Minister of Public Health, and the following month he was appointed prime minister. However, during his tenure he had an increasingly fractious relationship with President Chadli Bendjedid, and was removed from office in September 1989.
Public criticism of Bendjedid led to him becoming isolated within the FLN, and in October 1990 he left the party to form the Algerian Movement for Justice and Development, known by its acronym "MAJD", meaning "glory" in Arabic. They were attacked with automatic pistol fire by a band of five men while driving in Alger-Plage, a coastal resort 12 miles east of the capital, police said. The murder was condemned by agents of the FIS in Europe who claimed it was carried out by the Algerian intelligence service, while the responsibility was claimed by the GIA.