Algeria’s powerful army chief General Ahmed Gaid Salah has died of a heart attack at age 79, state television reported yesterday.
Gaid Salah was seen as Algeria’s de facto leader following the April resignation of longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the face of massive protests against his bid for a fifth term.
The lifelong military man played a key role pushing through Dec. 12 presidential elections for Bouteflika’s replacement, defying a monthslong protest movement that has demanded deep-rooted political reforms before any poll.
Photo: AFP
“The deputy defense minister and chief of staff of the army died Monday morning of a heart attack,” the presidency said in a statement, read out by a presenter on state news channel Algeria 3.
As chief of Algeria’s military for a record 15 years and a veteran of the nation’s war for independence, the general was seen as the guardian of the military-dominated system that has since been in power.
When Bouteflika appointed him in 2004 to head the armed forces — the backbone of Algeria’s opaque regime — he became one of the North African country’s most powerful men.
For years, Gaid Salah unwaveringly supported Bouteflika, even backing the octogenarian’s unpopular bid early this year for a fifth term in office — the announcement that sparked unprecedented mass demonstrations.
In early April, Gaid Salah called on his boss to resign.
Bouteflika quit the same day, leaving the armed forces chief effectively in charge of the North African country.
Gaid Salah defied protesters by pressing on with a presidential vote on Dec. 12.
It was won by establishment insider Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who was seen as close to the armed forces chief.
Tebboune declared three days of national mourning and appointed land forces commander General Said Chengriha as interim military chief of staff, Algeria 3 reported.
The army chief had categorially rejected the youth-led protest movement’s key demands: deep reforms, the establishment of transitional institutions and the dismantling of the military-dominated regime.
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