Houari Boumédiène: A Great African Departs
On 27 December 1978, Houari Boumédiène passed on in Algiers, Algeria, after an unsuccessful treatment for a rare form of blood cancer. Boumédiène was an Algerian military officer and revolutionary politician who was the second head of state of independent Algeria from 1965 until his death in 1978. He served as Chairman of the Revolutionary Council of Algeria from 19 June 1965 until 12 December 1976 and as President of Algeria until his death.
In its tribute to Boumédiène, The African Communist (No. 77, Second Quarter 1979) referred to him as a Great African, saying, “1978 ended with the departure of a great African, a man who contributed so much to the making of Africa’s recent past and present which is characterised by the determination of the masses of our people to rid the continent of the scourge of colonialism, racism and apartheid. That man was Houari Boumédiène.”
Houari Boumédiène was born Mohammed ben Brahim Boukharouba on 23 August 1927 in the village of Guelma, near Algeria’s border with Tunisia. He was educated at the Islamic Institute in Constantine and went to University in Tunis, Tunisia, and later to Cairo’s Al Azhar University. It was during his studies in Cairo that he got involved in politics and when in 1954 he met Ahmed Ben Bella, joined the National Liberation Front (FLN) and adopted the nom de guerre of Houari Boumédiène. He then fought in the Algerian war of liberation from Fren
