Algerian leader assassinated
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This is a digitised version of an article from The Cayman Compass's print archive. Occasionally, the digitisation process introduces transcription errors, or other problems.
See the article in its original context from June 1992.
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Boudiaf was shot by unidentified assailants as he arrived at the House of Art and Culture in the port city of Annaba 375 miles east of Algiers, the APS news agency reported.
Witnesses said the two hails of gunfire hit Boudiaf in the back and about a dozen other people were hit but it there was no word whether any were killed.
APS said there was "total confusion" in the area. Soldiers were sent to patrol Annaba's streets, and there were few pedestrians, witnesses said.
State-run radio broadcast verses from the Koran, Islam's holy book.
"It is with profound sadness that the High State Committee informs the Algerian people that President Mohamed Boudiaf died following criminal action while he was giving a speech at Annaba today at 11:30 (1030 GMT)," said a government statement read on the radio.
"The High State Committee is holding a joint meeting with the National Security Council and has decided on seven days of mourning," the statement said. "The committee pays its respects to the memory of Mohamed Boudiaf and invites Algerians and Africans to react with the dignity that they have expressed in similar sad, painful situations in the past."
Boudiaf, who turned 73 last Tuesday, is president of the five-man High State Committee which came to power in January to thwart the rise of Muslim fundamentalists.
The army-backed committee replaced President Chadli Bendjedid on 11 Jan. to thwart fundamentalists from a victory in parliamentary elections.
The elections were then cancelled, and the Islamic Salvation Front, which spearheaded antigovernment protests and was on its way to winning control of Parliament, was banned.
A hero of Algeria's war for independence, Boudiaf lived in self-exile for 26 years in neighbouring Morocco before being invited back to serve as head of state.
Untouched by claims of rampant corruption levied against the National Liberation Front, which ruled Algeria as a one-party Marxist state for 30 years, Boudiaf was seen as a moderating influence over Muslim extremists.
But the military remained the real power, and under Boudiaf, the High State Committee oversaw a massive crackdown on the Islamic Salvation Front, ordering the arrests of thousands.
The committee has wrested control of mosques from the fun-Cont'd on page 2 from page 1 fundamentalists and virtually eliminated public expressions of support for them.
Authorities have taken over hundreds of town councils that had been run by fundamentalists, appointed state-approved imams in mosques and spread fear with their mass arrests.
