Chadli Bendjedid

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Chadli Bendjedid
6th President of Algeria
In office February 9, 1979 – January 11, 1992
Preceded by	Rabah Bitat
Succeeded by	Muhammad Boudiaf

Born	April 14, 1929

Chadli Bendjedid (Arabic: شاذلي بن جديد‎) (born April 14, 1929) was President of Algeria from February 9, 1979 to January 11, 1992. He was reported to have served in the French Army as a junior officer before defecting to the National Liberation Front (FLN) at the beginning of the Algerian War of Independence. He was minister of defense from November 1978 to February 1979 and became president following the death of Houari Boumédiènne.

In office, Bendjedid reduced the state's role in the economy and eased government surveillance of citizens. In the late 1980s, with the economy failing due to rapidly falling oil prices, protests erupted in Algeria against the FLN's long one-party rule. Bendjedid then oversaw the country's transition towards multi-party democracy from 1988 onwards. But, in 1991, the military intervened to stop elections from bringing the Islamist Front Islamique du Salut (FIS) to power, forcing Bendjedid out of office and sparking a long and bloody Algerian Civil War.