The 50th anniversary of the one million martyrs revolution: Algeria
Algeria, History, 10/29/2004

On November 1st, 1954, Algeria was shaken by 60 explosions or attacks that resulted in killing 10 persons, but few people realized then that France has entered a new war in this Arab state.

Two historical leaders who participated in the Algerian liberation war, known as (children of November) are still alive after they survived the fatal destiny their colleagues faced, in the fighting or assassinated after independence with the exception of Rabih Bitat who died of natural cause.

November 1st, 1945 was also the date which marked the birth of the "National Liberation Front," the movement which won fame and announced in its first statement in French language, issued with the launching of the revolution that its aim is to maintain Algeria's independence though resistance which was assigned to the national liberation army," its armed hand.

The front claimed responsibility for the operations of November in a statement issued in Cairo, when the Egyptian President Jamal Abdul Nasser did not hide his support for the ( Algerian revolution). Neither the Algerian majority, nor the French intelligence then realized what had been prepared for since several months and the French intelligence then did not know the initiators of the revolution; those who established in March 1954 "the revolutionary committee for unity and action." Six of them were in Algeria; they were Mustafa Bin Buleid Bin Maheidi, Rabih Bitat, Muhammad Budiaf, Murad Didoush, and Abdul Karim Balqasem and other three in Cairo; they were Hussein Ayat Ahmad, Ahmad Bin Bella and Muhammad Kheidar. Only still alive among them are Ayat Ahmad and Bin Bella.

Bin Bella assumed the post of the first President for independent Algeria in 1963 but after he had spent 6 years in the French jails returned back to prison for 14 years after he was toppled in 1965 by the defense minister under his rule Huari Bimedian who ruled over Algeria in an iron fist until his death in 1978.

The second historical leader who is still alive is Hussein Ayat Ahmad ( 78 year old) who is also the oldest opposition figure for the Algerian regime.

Rabih Bitat died following contracting cancer in 2000 at 75 year old.

However the other 6 historical leaders met a fatal destiny. In June 1992, Muhammad Budiaf who assumed the presidency of the country for a short time as from January to June was killed after he had returned back from Morocco where he was exiled.

Abdul Karim Balqasem was assassinated in 1970 in Frankfurt ( Germany) where he lived in exile after he had split from the Algerain regime.

The same fate was for Muhammad Kheider in 1967 in Madrid where he had been living in exile since 1963 after he carried with him the money of the "liberation front."

Three men of the "Sons of November" were considered martyrs. One of them is Murad Didoush the master mind of the revolution who was killed in 1955 during clashes with the French army in Qusantinah area. The second man is Mustafa Bin Buleid who was killed in 1956 in al-Ouras area, his birth place which is considered the cradle of the revolution. The third is al-Arabai Bin Muheidi who is considered one of the prominent leaders of the liberation front. He was arrested by the French Parachutists in 1957 and executed him but they said he committed suicide in his cell.

The French authorities dispatched thousands of youths of the military service to Algeria's mountains in a battle which was deplored by many. The fourth Republic collapsed and General De Gaulle was called to rescue the " FrenchAlgeria " but he realized quickly that the only solution is independence, a thinking which provoked the colonialists.

Politics replaced weapons and a cease fire agreement was signed on March 19, 1963 and independence was announced on July 5th and with it the end of this war which resulted according to estimates of certain historians to the killing of 200,000 to 500,000 Algerians while Algerian historians confirm the killing of 1.5 million Algerians as martyrs. On the French side the war resulted in killing 27,000 soldiers and 2300 civilians and other 3,000 were considered as missing.

Previous Stories:
  Morocco holds Algeria responsible for blocking search for a political solution to Sahara dispute   (10/11/2004)
  Ammar Sueidani elected as speaker for the Algerian parliament   (6/24/2004)
  O Yahya to re-form the Algerian government; Benflis resigned the liberation front   (4/20/2004)

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