Mohammed Ahmed Ben- Bella

1916-2012

First President of Algeria

Ben-Bella was born on December 25, 1916 in Maghnia, French Algeria He was the first Prime Minister of the newly-independent Algeria from 1962 to 1965. He came to prominence as a leader of the Algerian National Movement in 1947, was imprisoned by the French three years later and escaped in 1952. He founded the Front de Liberation Nationale in 1954 and proceeded to lead an armed uprising against the French, who recaptured and incarcerated him from 1956 to 1962. Ben-Bella was ultimately deposed by a military coup and remained under house arrest until 1979.