Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Algerian soldier and politician, 5th President of Algeria
Abdelaziz Bouteflika (pronunciation ; Arabic: عبد العزيز بوتفليقة, romanized: ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz Būtaflīqa [ʕabd elʕaziːz buːtefliːqa]; 2 March 1937 – 17 September 2021) was an Algerian politician and diplomat who served as President of Algeria from 1999 to his resignation in 2019.
Before his stint as an Algerian politician, Bouteflika served during the Algerian War as a member of the National Liberation Front. After Algeria gained its independence from France, he served as the Minister of Foreign Affairs between 1963 until 1979. He served as President of the United Nations General Assembly during the 1974–1975 session.In 1983 he was convicted of stealing millions of dinars from Algerian embassies during his diplomatic career.
In 1999, Bouteflika was elected president of Algeria in a landslide victory. He would win re-elections in 2004, 2009, and 2014. As President, he presided over the end of the Algerian Civil War in 2002 when he took over the project of his immediate predecessor President Liamine Zéroual, and he ended emergency rule in February 2011 amidst regional unrest. Following a stroke in 2013, Bouteflika had made few public appearances throughout his fourth term, making his final appearance in 2017.Bouteflika resigned on 2 April 2019 after months of mass protests. With nearly 20 years in power, he is the longest-serving head of state of Algeria to date. Following his resignation, Bouteflika became a recluse and died at the age of 84 in 2021, over two years after his resignation.
1937Mar, 2
Abdelaziz Bouteflika
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Events on 1937
- 23Jan
Leon Trotsky
The trial of the anti-Soviet Trotskyist center sees seventeen mid-level Communists accused of sympathizing with Leon Trotsky and plotting to overthrow Joseph Stalin's regime. - 21Feb
Spanish Civil War
The League of Nations bans foreign national "volunteers" in the Spanish Civil War. - 12May
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
The Duke and Duchess of York are crowned as King George VI and Queen Elizabeth of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland in Westminster Abbey. - 27May
Golden Gate Bridge
In California, the Golden Gate Bridge opens to pedestrian traffic, creating a vital link between San Francisco and Marin County, California. - 22Jul
Judicial Procedures Reform Bill of 1937
New Deal: The United States Senate votes down President Franklin D. Roosevelt's proposal to add more justices to the Supreme Court of the United States.