Abdelhafid Boussouf

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Abdelhafid Boussouf (* 1926 in Mila ; † December 31, 1980 in Paris ) was an Algerian nationalist and politician . During the Algerian War of Independence he was head of the Algerian intelligence service from 1954 to 1958 and Minister of Telecommunications from 1958 to 1962.

Career

After he was born in Mila in 1926 and completed his schooling there, he went to Constantine before the Second World War , where he joined the Parti du peuple algérien (PPA). From 1947 he was one of the leading members of the Spéciale organization . After the organization was broken up in 1950, Boussouf went into hiding in Oran . There he was involved in the Mouvement pour le triomphe des libertés démocratiques (MTLD) and in the Comité révolutionnaire d'unité et d'action (CRUA). After the Soummam Congress in 1956, he became a member of the Algerian Revolutionary Council. In 1957 he became deputy to the revolutionary leader Larbi Ben M'hidi and responsible for the Tlemcen region.

Boussouf's main work during the war included building a secret police for the FLN based on the Soviet model. The task of this secret service was to discipline its own cadres as well as the Algerian population in French Algeria and the neighboring countries. The means used included torture , the disappearance of political opponents and civil executions . Boussouf paid close attention to loyalty when filling his organization and made use of the clan connections prevalent in the Algerian population. Boussouf formed together with Krim Belkassem and Lakhdar Ben Tobbal their own power center within the FLN which was called The Three Bs . When the prominent FLN leader Abane Ramdane accused the three Bs less of waging the fight against the French than of wanting to build up their own power base, he was murdered by Boussouf's secret service agents in 1957. Ramdane's death was blamed on the French within the FLN. The later head of state of Algeria Houari Boumedienne was sponsored by Boussouf and was part of his house power within the FLN.

In 1958 he was appointed Minister of Telecommunications in the Provisional Government. He held the post until 1962.

Boussouf suffered a heart attack in Paris on December 30, 1980 and died the following night at the age of 54. His body was buried in the El Alia cemetery in Algiers on Martyrs' Square .

literature

  • Ronald Segal: Political Africa. A Who's Who of Personalities and Parties. Stevens, London 1961
  • German Africa Society: African Minds. 27 deliveries, Bonn 1962–1965
  • Alf Andrew Heggoy and Robert R. Grout: Historical Dictionary of Algeria (African Historical Dictionaries, Volume 28). Scarecrow Press, Metuchen [et al.] 1981

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h Cela s'est passé un 31 December 1980… Décès de Abdelhafid Boussouf. In: babzman.com. January 3, 2016, accessed May 21, 2017 .
  2. ^ Martin Evans: Algeria: France's undeclared War , Oxford, 2012, pp. 226–229
personal data
SURNAME Boussouf, Abdelhafid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Algerian politician
DATE OF BIRTH 1926
PLACE OF BIRTH Mila , Algeria
DATE OF DEATH December 31, 1980
Place of death Paris , France