The Evian agreements provided for immediate independence for Algeria, with special aid from France
to help the country recover from eight years of devastation. The French also returned the Sahara,
with its vast French-developed oil and gas deposits. On its side, the FLN guaranteed protection and
full civil rights for the remains of the European population; after a three-year period they would
choose between Algerian and French citizenship.

The material and human costs of the war were staggering. French casualties were about 100, 000,
Algerian more than 1 million, and another 1.8 million were refugees. An additional 150, 000
pro-French Muslims became victims of the FLN as it settled old accounts after the cease-fire.

The departure of the Europeans deprived Algeria of nearly all its skilled labor force. To make
matters worse, factional rivalries within the FLN, kept in the background during the war, now became
visible. At a meeting in Tripoli, Libya, FLN leaders approved a charter that specified Algeria as a
socialist state, with the Front as the only legal political organization. Authority would be exercised by
a central FLN political bureau. The economy would be state controlled, with former colon lands
managed by committees of their workers.

The leaders were able to agree on little else, and open warfare soon broke out between factions.
Colonel Houari Boumedienne, chief of staff of the Army of National Liberation, threw his support to
Ahmed Ben Bella, who in September 1962 was elected the first president of independent Algeria.

Ben Bella served as president for three years and made a start toward putting the country back on its
feet. The first constitution was approved by voters in 1963, providing a presidential form of
government. The only check on the president's power would be censure by two-thirds of the National
Assembly. With such unrestricted authority, Ben Bella became totally absorbed in his personal power
and prestige, more and more preoccupied with international leadership, and at the same time more
autocratic at home. By mid-1965 Boumedienne, then minister of defense, felt Ben Bella had gone too
far; he had him arrested in a bloodless coup and assumed supreme power.

The Boumedienne Regime

Under Boumedienne Algeria finally began to capitalize on its vast resources. The army rather than
the FLN became a dominant force. Boumedienne formed a 26-member Council of the Revolution as
supreme authority; its members were army commanders and his close associates. Factionalism and
personal rule were strictly prohibited. Although Boumedienne remained first among equals—he was
simultaneously president, prime minister, and minister of defense—the principle of collegial
leadership was maintained.

In addition to rapid economic development, Boumedienne brought to the country a viable political
system. The constitution of 1976 defined Algeria as a socialist state under FLN leadership.
Boumedienne was legally elected president. When he died in 1978, Colonel Chadli Benjedid was
elected to succeed him. Benjedid continued his predecessor's policies but relaxed some of
Boumedienne's strict controls; he released and pardoned former president Ben Bella in 1980.
Benjedid was reelected in 1984, running unopposed.

In 1988, prompted by clashes between mostly youthful protesters and government troops, Benjedid
loosened the FLN's monopoly on political power. Reelected in December to a third five-year term, he
secured passage of a new constitution in February 1989. In the 1990 provincial and municipal
elections, the fundamentalist Islamic Salvation Front defeated the FLN by an overwhelming margin.
In January 1992, after a first round of balloting made it likely that the Islamic fundamentalists would
win control of parliament, a group of military and civilian officials forced Benjedid to resign. They
canceled the election, suspended parliament, and established a new High Committee of State with
Mohammed Boudiaff as president. When Boudiaff was assassinated in June 1992, Ali Kafi was
named to replace him as head of state. He was replaced by a five-member collective presidency,
known as the High Council, with Kafi at its head.

In January 1994, the council named Defense Minister Liamine Zeroual as Algeria's president for a
three-year interim term. However, in October Zeroual announced that presidential elections would be
held at the end of 1995. A former diplomat and career soldier who fought for Algeria's independence
from France, Zeroual has been given wide latitude to negotiate with the Islamic Salvation Front and
other fundamentalist groups.

Since elections were held in 1992, Algeria has been wrought with civil strife. In an effort to undermine
the government, militant Muslims have attacked members of the military and government, and
individuals expressing secular or non-Muslim views, such as journalists, teachers, and members of
the clergy. Foreigners have also been targets of terrorist attacks, including an airplane highjacking in
late 1994. By the end of that year, an estimated 30, 000 people had been killed by government forces
or members of the opposition. In 1994 the government and five opposition groups met to discuss
peace agreements, but were unable to compromise on a final proposal. In 1995, members of
opposition groups met in Italy with a Catholic mediating group to discuss prospects of peace.

from the Black World Profiles