After Algeria gained independence in 1962, Mr Bouteflika was appointed Minister of Youth and Sports in the government of Algeria’s first elected President, Ahmed Ben Bella. He led the Algerian delegation to talks with France in 1963 and was appointed Foreign Minister that year.
In 1965 he was a leading actor in a bloodless coup led by Mr Bomedian that overthrew President Ben Bella. Mr Bouteflika remained in charge of the Foreign Ministry until Mr Boumedin’s death in December 1978. He was a brilliant and flamboyant foreign minister who pioneered an anti-colonial and non-interventionist policy and brought Algeria to prominence as the leader of the Non-Aligned Movement. . and is a founding member of the African Union.
Mr Bouteflika was mentioned for some time as a possible successor to Mr Boumedienne, until he was arrested and prosecuted by the Court of Auditors on charges of misappropriating millions of dollars from the foreign ministry’s budget. . He decided – or was forced – to go into exile abroad for six years.
Returning to Algeria in 1987, he rejoined the Central Committee of the National Liberation Front, the political wing of the independence movement. But he remained behind the stage for much of the 1990s, when military and intelligence figures dominated the government amid a war with Algeria’s Islamist rebels.
The rebellion began when the government canceled elections to prevent a landslide victory for the Islamic party, the Islamic Salvation Front, also known by its French abbreviation, FIS.
As the civil war was coming to an end, Mr. Bouteflika put his way forward. Running for the presidency in 1999, he left himself the only candidate after six rivals withdrew in protest, saying the election conditions were unfair.
As president, he promoted the concept of “national reconciliation”, offering genuine apologies to all opponents of the war, whether Islamists or members of the military. Both sides were accused by human rights organizations of committing atrocities during the war, in which an estimated 200,000 Algerians were killed.