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Ahmed Ben Bella

1916 – 2012

dead

Ahmed Ben Bella was an Algerian revolutionary and politician who served as the first president of independent Algeria from 1963 to 1965. As a senior commander in the National Liberation Front, he played a leading role in the eight-year war of independence against French colonial rule, organizing arms shipments and political coordination from prison and exile. After being overthrown in a 1965 coup by his defense minister, he spent 14 years under house arrest before re-emerging as a prominent advocate for democratic and pan-African reform.