Algérie: le général Gaïd Salah est décédé
The powerful army chief of staff, General Ahmed Gaïd Salah, who effectively ruled Algeria after the forced resignation of President Bouteflika in April, died Monday of a heart attack, just four days after the inauguration of the new head of state.
Symbolically, his last public appearance was on December 19, at the inauguration ceremony of the new president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, elected a week earlier in a vote that the 79-year-old military officer had imposed despite the opposition of the Hirak, the popular protest movement that has been sweeping Algeria.
On this occasion, Mr. Tebboune had elevated interim President Abdelkader Bensalah, but also General Gaïd Salah, to the dignity of “Sadr” in the National Order of Merit, an honor traditionally reserved for heads of state.
After forcing the resignation of President Bouteflika in April, who was facing a massive popular movement protesting the regime, General Gaïd Salah then monopolized political discourse, appearing as the de facto strongman of Algeria, in the face of a silent interim civilian power.
As the face of the military high command – the pillar since independence in 1962 of an Algerian regime characterized by its opacity – he spent more than eight months “suggesting” the course of action to the government, and alternately congratulating, admonishing or warning the protest.
Independence fighters
“The Deputy Minister of Defence, Chief of Staff of the Army, died Monday morning,” announced a presenter on national television Algeria 3, reading a statement from the Presidency.
According to this statement, later published by the official APS agency, General Gaïd Salah died at 6 a.m. (5 a.m. GMT) “following a cardiac arrest at his home before being transferred to the Central Army Hospital of Aïn Naadja.”
Born on January 13, 1940, Ahmed Gaïd Salah joined the National Liberation Army (ALN) at the age of 17, fighting against French colonial rule, according to his official biography. He was one of the last remaining veterans of the War of Independence within the army—a past from which Algerian leaders long derived their legitimacy.
Mr. Tebboune, 74, is, on the contrary, the first Algerian president not to have come from the ranks of veterans of this War of Independence.
“Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces and Minister of Defence” in title, the Head of State decreed three days of national mourning and tasked General Said Chengriha, Commander of the Land Forces, with serving as interim Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army (ANP), the national television presenter continued.
Aged 74, General Chengriha was appointed head of the Land Forces in September 2018 by General Gaïd Salah, during a major reshuffle of the top military and security leadership. AFP
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