Assassination of Mohamed Boudiaf
| Assassination of Mohamed Boudiaf | |
|---|---|
| Part of Algerian Civil War | |
|
Mohamed Boudiaf, seconds before his assassination.
| |
| Location | Annaba, Algeria |
| Date | 29 June 1992 (29 June 1992) |
| Target | Mohamed Boudiaf |
|
Attack type
| Political assassination |
| Weapons |
|
| Deaths | 1 (Mohamed Boudiaf) |
| Injured | at least 40 killed or wounded |
| Perpetrator | Lambarek Boumaarafi |
| Motive | Revenge for the 1992 Algerian coup d'état |
The assassination of Mohamed Boudiaf took place on 29 June 1992. As Chairman of the High Council of Algeria, Boudiaf was killed by one of his own bodyguards, Lambarek Boumaarafi, who was presented officially as an Islamic fundamentalist, and a sympathiser of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), who acted alone. He was assassinated in Annaba while addressing a public meeting, which was later broadcast on national TV.
He was shot three times, twice in the head and once in his back.[1] He was president for only five months, after his return from exile in Morocco to rule over the High Council of State (HCE) that emerged as a constitutional alternative to the Islamic State declared by the FIS after winning the 1991 parliamentary election — the first democratic elections in the country since its independence in 1962. His mission was to crush the FIS, stop the civil war and restore order.[2]
Boudiaf was one of the few veterans of the Algerian War still alive at the time. A number of other veterans had suffered a similar fate, notably Krim Belkacem, assassinated in Frankfurt in 1970, Mohamed Khider assassinated in Madrid in 1967, and foreign minister Mohammed Seddik Benyahia, assassinated on the Iran–Iraq border when working on a walk out from the Iran-Iraq War.
Assassination
The attack began with a grenade explosion on one side of the podium from where Boudiaf was giving his speech, which attracted the attention of Boudiaf and his bodyguards, while another grenade was thrown under his chair. The two blasts were followed by a gunman dressed in the uniform of the elite police intervention unit who emerged from behind Boudiaf, and emptied his sub-machine gun into the President's back. The gunman and at least 40 other people were killed or injured in the attack. Among the wounded were the Minister of Industry and a top provincial official.[3]
Perpetrator
Lambarek Boumaarafi (born 1966 in Meskiana)[4] is a former second lieutenant of the special intervention group (GIS) of the Algerian Army who, on 29 June 1992 in Annaba, assassinated Algerian president Mohamed Boudiaf.[5]
Twenty days after the assassination, a commission of inquiry named immediately after the assassination made its finding: it was a conspiracy. In support of this thesis, the six members of the commission, while noting that Boumaarafi had no "profile" of a kamikaze acting on his own initiative, noted the criminal negligence of security services which facilitated the task of the killer.
He was part of a special operations group (GIS) dependent on Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité (DRS) responsible for various law enforcement operations. This brigade was theoretically not charged with ensuring the safety of President Boudiaf. This situation, and its confusing explanations,[6] have cast doubt on the reasons that led his superiors to assign him that day to protect the Algerian president.
During the mutiny of Algiers Serkadji prison, in June 1995, that killed 100 people including 96 prisoners, his disappearance was discussed.[7] Boumaarafi currently lives in prison. In June 2007, his father claimed that he was not the perpetrator.[8]
International circumstances
Boudiaf's assassination coincided with the Algerian state-owned oil company Sonatrach's launch in London of a first onshore leasing round in which it sought participation by foreign oil companies in opening up new production facilities in Algeria. Oil prices rose on immediate fears that the killing of Boudiaf might trigger unrest that could hit production, but they fell back later in the day. Sources believe there may be a short-term disruption of exports from Algeria, but the country will have to sell oil eventually.[citation needed]
The United States, the Organization of African Unity, and other western nations condemned the killing.[citation needed] By contrast, the Iranian politician and ayatollah Ahmad Jannati reportedly expressed his pleasure about Boudiaf's death, prompting a harsh denunciation from the Algerians.[9]
The attack on Boudiaf was the Arab world's most dramatic political killing since Egyptian President Anwar Sadat was assassinated by Islamic fundamentalists in 1981.[10][11]
Boudiaf's widow
|
Fatiha Boudiaf
فتيحة بوضياف | |
|---|---|
Fatiha Boudiaf
| |
| Born | (1944-11-28) November 28, 1944 |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Spouse | Mohamed Boudiaf |
Fatiha Boudiaf (November 28, 1944 in Oran) is an Algerian activist, widow and second wife of former Algerian President Mohamed Boudiaf. After his assassination in 1992, she set up the Boudiaf Foundation to spread her husband's message of peace. She has been outspoken against the conviction of Lambarek Boumaarafi, saying that a larger conspiracy was involved in the death of her ex-husband and has demanded that the investigation is reopened.[12] She denounced the official investigation of her husband's assassination, suggesting that it was not the work of a lone fanatic but part of a greater plot. She has attempted to visit Lambarek Boumaarafi, the man who was convicted of the murder of her husband, while he is in prison, but this request has been refused by the authorities.[13]
She theorised that the person who killed her husband hid under the table in front of him at the time and is yet to be arrested.[13] In 2016, she accused four former senior army officers of the murder of her husband, and sent an open letter to the former President, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, demanding that the case was reopened.[14]
She set up the Boudiaf Foundation,[15] for which she received the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation in 1998.[16] The foundation is set up in honour of her deceased husband, and hopes to spread a message of peace and education for all citizens of Algeria. Each year on the anniversary of his death, it celebrates his life.[17]
See also
- Assassination of Anwar Sadat
- Larbi Belkheir Minister of the Interior at the time of the murder
- Mohamed Mediène at the head of Département du Renseignement et de la Sécurité since 1990
References
- ^ New light is thrown on Boudiaf's murder: The fundamentalists may not be behind the president's death, writes Robert Fisk in Algiers [1] Archived 2015-09-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Operation Boudiaf". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
- ^ "www.islammemo.cc". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
- ^ L'énigme du sous-lieutenant Boumaarafi - Libération
- ^ L'énigme du sous-lieutenant Boumaarafi - Libération
- ^ L'espoir assassiné | Humanite
- ^ Alger décompte 100 morts dans la mutinerie de Serkadji - Libération
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-11-05. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ Rebouh, Idriss (13 October 2022). "Iranian Interference and Its Impact on Algeria-Iran Relations". Echorouk. Retrieved 6 December 2024. After the end of the first six months of Boudiaf's assassination, Ahmed Jannati declared, his great pleasure in the assassination of President Boudiaf (...) Algeria described this behavior as "despicable, uncivilized, crude, and an irresponsible statement that contradicts Islamic and human values."
- ^ CTC International Group Limited
- ^ "Principal Dates and Time Line of History of Algeria 1945-1957". Archived from the original on 2014-04-25. Retrieved 2013-11-05.
- ^ Alilat, Farid (3 March 2015). "Algérie : Bouteflika et les femmes". Jeune Afrique (in French). Retrieved 28 July 2016.
- ^ a b Alilat, Farid (22 August 2015). "The "J'accuse! "Madame Boudiaf". Jeune Afrique (in French). Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- ^ "Algérie. Nacer Boudiaf accuse 4 anciens hauts gradés de l'armée de l'assassinat de son pere". Medias24 (in French). 30 June 2016. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- ^ Naylor, Phillip C. (1994). Historical Dictionary of Algeria. Metuchen, N.J.: Scarecrow Press. p. 143. ISBN 978-0-58507-031-5.
- ^ "Prince of Asturias Award - Rewarded" (in French). Prince of Asturias Award. Retrieved 26 October 2016.
- ^ "Lire aussi L'homme est mort, l'oeuvre reste IL Y A 14 ANS, BOUDIAF RENTRAIT AU PAYS Le retour du père prodige Il y a 12 ans revenait Mohamed Boudiaf Que reste-t-il de l'idéal Boudiaf ? La patrie au cœur Mohamed Boudiaf Communiqué de la Fondation Boudiaf" (in French). Djazairess. 29 June 2008. Retrieved 26 October 2016.