Algeria's Bouteflika: a veteran leader who was finally oustedAbdelaziz Bouteflika, shown here in 2009, helped foster peace in Algeria after a decade-long civil war in the 1990sALGIERS - Abdelaziz Bouteflika, who died Friday aged 84, was Algeria's longest-serving president and a veteran of the independence struggle who clung to power through ill health before being forced out in 2019. When Bouteflika came to power with the support of an army battling Islamist guerrillas, nobody expected him to stay in office for so long. - Long spell in exile -Bouteflika was born in Morocco on March 2, 1937 to a family from western Algeria. As rallies against his rule swelled even further, Bouteflika resigned from the presidency on April 2. "Bouteflika failed to turn Algeria into a modern country, with real institutions," according to Myriam Ait-Aoudia, a professor of political science.

Source: Bangkok Post September 18, 2021 00:11 UTC