Liamine Zeroual

Liamine Zeroual (born July 3, 1941, Batna, Algeria) was the president of Algeria (1994–99).

Zeroual joined the Algerian army at age 16 and fought against France during Algeria’s War of Independence. In 1965 Zeroual went to the Soviet Union for military training, after which he was posted to Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria, to head an artillery unit. During the 1970s and ’80s, he rose steadily through the army’s ranks, commanding three of Algeria’s key military regions before being named land forces chief in 1989. That same year Zeroual resigned from the army after a dispute with Pres. Chadli Bendjedid. He later served (1990–91) as ambassador to Romania, and he was named Algeria’s defense minister in 1993.

Following his appointment as president by the High Security Council in January 1994, Zeroual attempted on two occasions to broker peace negotiations with the Islamic Salvation Front (Front Islamique du Salut; FIS), Algeria’s main opposition party. Although both attempts ended in failure, Zeroual continued to express an openness to future negotiations on the condition that the FIS would renounce the use of violence.

On November 16, 1995, Zeroual won an easy victory in Algeria’s first multicandidate presidential election. Though FIS was banned from running and some opposition parties boycotted the election, the country’s freest election to date saw a high turnout and provided Zeroual with a mandate to continue as Algeria’s head of state. Stressing peace and reconciliation as the twin themes of his presidency, he declared as his goal a broad-based government in which both secular and Islamic parties would work together toward implementing democracy. Although the FIS rejected Zeroual’s blueprint for constitutional reform, most of Algeria’s legal opposition parties voted in favour of the reforms at a national conference held in September 1996. The new constitution was approved by referendum in November. As part of a pact aimed at ending Algeria’s crisis and bloodshed, Zeroual also promised legislative elections in 1997. In September 1998 he announced his intention to resign from the presidency because of health issues, though most observers believed his resignation came from the loss of support from the press and the army. He remained in office until April 1999, when a presidential election was held two years early. He was succeeded by the winner of that election, Abdelaziz Bouteflika.

In the decades that followed, Zeroual largely refrained from engaging in public life. He rejected calls to challenge Bouteflika in subsequent presidential elections, saying that he favoured handing power over to a new generation. In February 2019 he made a public appearance in a show of support for popular protests against Bouteflika’s announced run for a fifth term. As protests continued, eventually leading to Bouteflika’s resignation, Zeroual rejected offers to lead a transitional council, reiterating the need for a new generation to lead.