Ahmed Ben Bella

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Ahmed Ben Bella
أحمد بن بلّة
Official portrait, 1963
1st President of Algeria
In office 15 September 1963 – 19 June 1965
Vice President	Rabah Bitat Houari Boumédiène Saïd Mohammedi[1]
Succeeded by	Houari Boumédiène as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council
Prime Minister of Algeria
In office 27 September 1962 – 15 September 1963
Preceded by	Benyoucef Benkhedda as Head of Government
Succeeded by	Office abolished Mohamed Ben Ahmed Abdelghani (1979)
Personal details
Born	(1916-12-25)25 December 1916 Maghnia, French Algeria
Died	11 April 2012(2012-04-11) (aged 95) Algiers, Algeria
Spouse	Zohra Michelle Sellami[2] ​ ​ (m. 1971; died 2008)​ [3]
Children	2
Occupation	Politician footballer
Association football career Position(s) center back, midfielder Senior career* Years Team Apps (Gls) 1939-1940 Marseille 1 (0) *Club domestic league appearances and goals

Ahmed Ben Bella (Arabic: أحمد بن بلّة Aḥmad bin Billah; 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 Algeria from 15 September 1963 to 19 June 1965.

Ben Bella played an important role during the Algerian war of independence against France, leading the 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 after a short crisis, 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 per cent 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 after a coup d'état by his Minister of Defense Houari Boumédiéne in 1965. He was freed from house arrest in 1980 and died in 2012.