Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika (Arabic: عبد العزيز بوتفليقة, in Berber: Ɛebdelɛaziz Butefliqa), born March 2, 1937 in Oujda (Morocco) and died September 17, 2021 in Zéralda (Algeria), is an Algerian statesman, President of the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria from April 27, 1999 to April 2, 2019.

He was engaged after the injunction to students to join the National Liberation Army (ALN) in Morocco in May 1956 during the Algerian War. A member of the Oujda clan, he became friends with Houari Boumédiène, under whose leadership he quickly progressed in the administrative apparatus of the "border army".

Elected as a member of parliament for Tlemcen in 1962, he was Minister of Youth, Sports and Tourism in the first Ahmed Ben Bella government, from 1962 to 1963. He then served as Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1963 to 1979, in the three Ahmed Ben Bella governments — whose fall he contributed to by participating in the 1965 coup d'état — and the four Houari Boumédiène governments.

After Boumédiène's death, he was Minister Counselor to the President of the Republic from 1979 to 1980. Accused of extortion, he was forced into exile from 1981 to 1987. During the civil war of the 1990s, he was more moderate than President Liamine Zéroual.

An independent candidate in the 1999 presidential election, Abdelaziz Bouteflika controversially won the first round, with 73.8% of the vote, after all the candidates withdrew, although their names were not removed from the ballot papers.