Ahmed Ben Bella

Ahmed Ben Bella (Arabic: أحمد بن بلّة, romanized: Aḥmad bin Billah; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian politician, soldier and revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 and then the first president of Algeria from 15 September 1963 until his overthrow on 19 June 1965.

Ben Bella played an important role during the Algerian war of independence against France, leading the National Liberation Front (FLN), organizing the shipment of foreign weapons and coordinating political strategy from Cairo. Despite not being present in Algeria, French authorities tried to assassinate him multiple times. Once Algeria gained independence in 1962, Ben Bella's Oujda Group seized power from Benyoucef Benkhedda's provisional government, and Ben Bella became prime minister of Algeria with Ferhat Abbas as acting president. Ben Bella succeeded Ferhat Abbas on 15 September 1963 after rapidly sidelining him, and was elected president after winning an election with 99.6 percent of the votes.

Ben Bella pursued Arab socialist and pan-Arabist policies and came to describe himself as a Nasserist. He nationalized several industries and established good relations with other anti-Zionist Arab states and left-wing states such as Gamal Abdel Nasser's Egypt and Fidel Castro's Cuba. He encountered political conflict during his presidency, and was faced with border clashes in the Sand War with Morocco in 1963 and a failed rebellion by the Socialist Forces Front against his regime in 1963–1964. He was ousted from power and put under house arrest following a coup d'état by his Minister of Defense Houari Boumédiéne in 1965. He was freed from house arrest on January 17, 1980 and died in 2012.