Mohamed Boudiaf: From the Exile of Struggle to Assassination

On the morning of 29th June 1992, treacherous bullets pierced Mohamed Boudiaf's back before television cameras in Annaba, bringing down one of the pillars of the November Revolution in a pool of blood

On the morning of 29th June 1992, treacherous bullets pierced Mohamed Boudiaf's back before television cameras in Annaba, bringing down one of the pillars of the November Revolution in a pool of blood, aged 73. Those bullets were not merely the individual act of Lieutenant Lambarek Boumaarafi, but rather the expression of a merciless system that tolerates no challenge to its authority.

Boudiaf, who had been brought back less than six months earlier to chair the High State Council following the coup of 11th January 1992, was killed when he dared to be a genuine president, not a puppet dancing to the generals' strings.

From Revolution's Leadership to Coup's Victim

Mohamed Boudiaf, one of the group of nine who planned and ignited the revolution of 1st November 1954, was a symbol of revolutionary determination. When he disagreed with his comrades over confronting French colonialism, he declared with resolve: "We shall declare armed revolution against France, with you or without you, or against you if necessary."

In 1956, the colonial government abducted him in the first civilian aircraft hijacking in history, whilst he was travelling from Morocco to Tunisia alongside other revolutionary leaders. He remained imprisoned in a Parisian gaol until March 1962.

In 1961, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, commissioned by Colonel Houari Boumediene, offered him the presidency of independent Algeria with the support of the border army, but he categorically refused the offer. Meanwhile, his comrade Ahmed Ben Bella accepted the proposal from the Oujda Group.

In the summer of 1962, Boudiaf opposed the armed coup by the Oujda Group against the provisional government, choosing peaceful resistance rather than taking up arms like Hussein Ait Ahmed. After his imprisonment and the opposition's defeat before the Boumediene-Ben Bella alliance, he sought refuge in Morocco, where he spent 28 years opposing the rule of Ben Bella and later Boumediene.

Following the latter's death, his voice quietened, and he devoted himself to managing a brick factory in Kenitra, Morocco, until his name returned to prominence on the eve of the December 1991 elections.

Return Upon a Tank

Before the 1991 elections, Boudiaf appeared on official television, calling for respect of the people's will whatever the results. However, the generals held a different view. They sent Ali Haroun, Minister of "Human Rights," to convince him that he was "the man Algeria awaited." Boudiaf was secretly brought to meet senior generals before being officially received on 16th January 1992—the day the second round of elections was cancelled—to chair the High State Council.

He thought he would save Algeria, but the generals brought him merely to serve as a façade for breaking the Islamic Salvation Front's power, nothing more.

A President Who Defied the Puppet System

Boudiaf did not content himself with a decorative symbolic role, but sought to be an effective president. He began by opening files on financial corruption within the army and civil administration, appointing three senior intelligence officers to investigate the rampant corruption amongst the regime's magnates. However, these officers were assassinated one after another before Boudiaf's own murder—a clear message: whoever approaches the system's secrets meets their doom.

He took steps to calm the situation:

He released several hundred—merely—of the Islamic Front detainees from amongst tens of thousands distributed between desert camps and city prisons, in a symbolic gesture towards reconciliation.

He reached out to various national figures seeking political solutions to the crisis.

He resisted, relatively speaking, the eradicationist current that called for total war against the Islamists, which provoked enmity with General Mohamed Lamari, commander of land forces, who appeared crude and discourteous in his dealings with him.

In April 1992, Boudiaf expelled Lamari from his office following a heated discussion about "counter-terrorism." He ordered his dismissal, but Khaled Nezzar reinstated him as an adviser—a blatant challenge. After Boudiaf's assassination, Lamari returned to command the army, leading a bloody campaign of repression.

When He Visited Morocco: A Media Attack by Nezzar's Pen

In May 1992, Boudiaf visited Morocco to attend his son's wedding and met King Hassan II. The meeting aroused the regime's ire, prompting Al-Massa newspaper to publish an article fiercely attacking Morocco and threatening to publish additional parts.

Boudiaf responded with a firm warning: if publication continued, he would not return to Algeria.

It later emerged that the article was commissioned personally by the coup's leader, General Khaled Nezzar, in an attempt to undermine Boudiaf's diplomatic efforts.

Assassination Under the Spotlights and a Buried Investigation

On 29th June 1992, Boudiaf fell to bullets from his guard Lambarek Boumaarafi, who is believed to remain in prison.

An official investigation committee was formed, concluding that the crime was an individual decision, but several committee members objected, including:

Lawyer Mohamed Farhat, a committee member, who faced an assassination attempt two weeks later.

Lawyer Youssef Fathallah, who refused to sign the report, was assassinated on 18th June 1994.

The official report attributed the crime to an "individual act," but the people chanted at his funeral: "Those who brought him are those who killed him."

This was later confirmed by the Prime Minister at the time, Sid Ahmed Ghozali.

Neglected Memory and the List of Blood

Rather than completely erasing his memory, some streets and hospitals were named after Boudiaf, but without genuine interest in perpetuating his legacy. Since the third anniversary of his assassination, his memory passes annually without official mention, as though the regime wished to close his chapter. Even Kasdi Merbah, one of the architects of the security system, who was certain that Boudiaf was killed by senior generals, was assassinated approximately a year later for possessing "embarrassing archives."

His Eldest Son Makes Accusations

In his book, Nasreddin Boudiaf accused Khaled Nezzar and Mohamed Mediene (Tewfik) of planning the assassination, stating: "My father was not killed by a guard's bullet, but was killed when he began to expose the tunnel in which the Republic was drowned."

Conclusion: A Republic That Devours Its Children

Mohamed Boudiaf, the revolutionary who refused the offer of power in 1961, made a fatal error when he accepted the generals' offer in 1992. He was a reform project far too late for a republic lost in corruption and bloodshed, but he was killed because he refused to be a puppet.

Those who brought him to beautify their coup finished him off, then neglected his memory. After 33 years, the truth remains suspended, and the people's voice echoes: "Those who brought him... are those who killed him."

Mohamed Larbi Zitout
Former Algerian Diplomat