Mohamed Khider () (March 13, 1912,

Biskra Biskra () is the capital city of Biskra Province, Algeria. In 2007, its population was recorded as 307,987. Biskra is located in northeastern Algeria, about from Algiers, southwest of Batna, Algeria, Batna and north of Touggourt. It is nickna ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

– January 4, 1967,

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

) was an Algerian politician.

War years and imprisonment

Mohamed Khider was one of the original leaders of the Front de Libération nationale (FLN), having been previously active in its

nationalist Nationalism is an idea or movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the State (polity), state. As a movement, it presupposes the existence and tends to promote the interests of a particular nation,Anthony D. Smith, Smith, A ...

predecessors, the

Étoile Nord-Africaine The Étoile Nord-Africaine or ENA (French for ''North African Star'') was an early Algerian nationalist organization founded in 1926. It was dissolved first in 1929, then reorganised in 1933 under the name of Glorieuse ENA and again dissolved in ...

and

Parti du Peuple Algerien The Algerian People's Party, was a successor organization of the North African Star, led by veteran Algerian nationalism, nationalist Messali Hadj. It was formed on March 11, 1937. In 1936, the Etoile Nord Africaine (ENA), its predecessor, had join ...

(PPA) of

Messali Hadj Ahmed Ben Messali Hadj (; May 16, 1898 – June 3, 1974; commonly known as Messali Hadj, ) was an Algerian nationalist politician dedicated to the independence of his homeland from French colonial rule. He is often called the "father" of Algeria ...

. From 1946 to 1951 he was a member of the French National Assembly as a representative of the

Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties The Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties (MTLD), name proposed by Maiza, was created October 1946 to replace the outlawed Parti du Peuple Algerien (PPA). Messali Hadj remained as its president. The MTLD was created on the same platfo ...

(MTLD). He played an important role during the first years of the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

(1954–62), mainly in representing the FLN externally. In 1956, he was part of a group of FLN politicians (Khider, Ahmad Ben Bella,

Hocine Aït Ahmed Hocine Aït Ahmed (‎; 20 August 1926 – 23 December 2015) was an Algerian politician. He was founder and leader until 2009 of the historical political opposition in Algeria. The Hocine Aït Ahmed Stadium, one of the largest stadiums by ...

Mohamed Boudiaf Mohamed Boudiaf (23 June 1919 – 29 June 1992, ; ALA-LC: ''Muḥammad Bū-Ḍiyāf''), also called Si Tayeb el Watani, was an Algerian politician and statesman, and one of the founders of the revolutionary National Liberation Front (FLN) t ...

and

Rabah Bitat Rabah Bitat (; ALA-LC: ''Rābaḥ Bīṭāṭ''; 19 December 1925 – 10 April 2000) was an Algerian nationalist and politician. He served as interim President of Algeria from 1978 to 1979, after Houari Boumédiène's death. Career Bitat was ...

) captured by

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in an

airplane hijacking Aircraft hijacking (also known as airplane hijacking, skyjacking, plane hijacking, plane jacking, air robbery, air piracy, or aircraft piracy, with the last term used within the special aircraft jurisdiction of the United States) is the Crime, ...

. Two years later, while incarcerated in France, he was an elected member of the GPRA

exile government A government-in-exile (GiE) is a political group that claims to be the legitimate government of a sovereign state or semi-sovereign state, but is unable to exercise legal power and instead resides in a foreign country. Governments in exile usu ...

, holding the symbolical post of Minister of State. He was released as Algeria became independent in 1962.

Backing and opposing Ben Bella

After returning to Algeria, Khider joined

Ahmed Ben Bella Ahmed Ben Bella (; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian politician, soldier and socialist revolutionary who served as the head of government of Algeria from 27 September 1962 to 15 September 1963 and then the first president of ...

and the FLN army's chief of staff,

Col A col is the lowest point on a mountain ridge between two peaks; a mountain pass or saddle. COL, CoL or col may also refer to: Computers * Caldera OpenLinux, a defunct Linux distribution * , an HTML element specifying a column * A collision sig ...

Houari Boumédiène Houari Boumédiène (; born Mohammed ben Brahim Boukharouba; 23 August 1932 – 27 December 1978) was an Algerian military officer and politician who was the list of heads of state of Algeria, second head of state of independent Algeria from 196 ...

, in forming a

Political Bureau A politburo () or political bureau is the highest organ of the central committee in communist parties. The term is also sometimes used to refer to similar organs in socialist and Islamist parties, such as the UK Labour Party's NEC or the Poli ...

of the FLN to replace the GPRA, over which they had no control. Boumédiène's

army An army, ground force or land force is an armed force that fights primarily on land. In the broadest sense, it is the land-based military branch, service branch or armed service of a nation or country. It may also include aviation assets by ...

, built up outside the war zone in

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

and

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, quashed resistance among GPRA loyalists and

guerrilla Guerrilla warfare is a form of unconventional warfare in which small groups of irregular military, such as rebels, Partisan (military), partisans, paramilitary personnel or armed civilians, which may include Children in the military, recruite ...

units inside Algeria, as it moved in from its border area bases. Khider then took on the role of Secretary-General of the post-war Party of FLN, with control over finances, but quickly fell out with

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Ben Bella. Among the causes were political differences, personal rivalries, and opposition to Ben Bella's increasingly autocratic rule. Ben Bella refused Khider's requests to allow the FLN into the decision-making process and replaced him as secretary-general.

Exile and death

In 1963, Khider went into exile in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, bringing $12 million (or $14 million) of party funds with him, saying they would be used to finance a political opposition to continue the "genuine" nationalist tradition of the FLN. In 1967, he was

assassinated Assassination is the willful killing, by a sudden, secret, or planned attack, of a personespecially if prominent or important. It may be prompted by political, ideological, religious, financial, or military motives. Assassinations are orde ...

. Most observers blamed his death on Col. Boumédiène, who had toppled Ben Bella two years earlier, and to whom Khider had declared his continued opposition. He was

posthumously Posthumous may refer to: * Posthumous award, an award, prize or medal granted after the recipient's death * Posthumous publication, publishing of creative work after the author's death * Posthumous (album), ''Posthumous'' (album), by Warne Marsh, 1 ...

rehabilitated by Boumédiène's successor,

Chadli Bendjedid Chadli Bendjedid (; ALA-LC: ''ash-Shādhilī bin Jadīd''; 14 April 1929 – 6 October 2012) was an Algerian military officer and politician who served as the third President of Algeria. His presidential term of office ran from 9 February 1979 ...

, in 1984.

References

External links

Time Magazine, January 13, 1967
- Death notice. {{DEFAULTSORT:Khider, Mohamed 1912 births 1967 deaths People from Biskra People of French Algeria Étoile Nord-Africaine politicians Algerian People's Party politicians Movement for the Triumph of Democratic Liberties politicians National Liberation Front (Algeria) politicians Government ministers of Algeria Deputies of the 1st National Assembly of the French Fourth Republic Members of Parliament for French Algeria Algerian people imprisoned in France Algerian exiles Assassinated Algerian politicians People murdered in Spain Unsolved murders in Spain Politicians assassinated in 1967 Algerian people murdered abroad

War years and imprisonment

Backing and opposing Ben Bella

Exile and death

See also

References

External links