Abdelaziz Bouteflika

Abdelaziz Bouteflika is the President of Algeria. Bouteflika assumed office on April 27, 1999. He is a member of the Front de Liberation Nationale (FLN) party that he joined at the age of 19.1

Biography

Abdelaziz Bouteflika was born in Oujda,Morocco, on March 2, 1937. He joined the National Liberation Army in 1956 at the age of 19, where he fought against the French. When Algeria gained its independence in 1962, he aligned himself with Boumedienne. He is married to Amal Triki.2 In the 1980s, Bouteflika spent several years under a self-imposed exile, to avoid being prosecuted for corruption charges that were later dropped.
1956: National Liberation Army4
1962: Deputy of Tlemcen in the Constituent Assemble and Minister for Youth and Sports in the government of Ahmed Ben Bella4
1963-1978: Appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs4
1979: Expected to be made president, but the Army chose Chadi Bendjedidl; instead became Minister of State
1974-1975: President of the 29th UN General Assembly4
1981: Left the political arena (after being pushed out of prominence)4
1983: Left the country, staying in the UAE, France and Switzerland4
1989: Returned to Algeria, and joined the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front (FLN)
January 1994: Refused to accept the Army's proposal to succeed assassinated President Mohamed Boudiaf
April 1999: Ran for president, winning with 74% of the vote
April 2004: Re-elected, winning with 83.49% of the vote