Abdelaziz Bouteflika

In 1990, he married Amal Triki, the daughter of Yahia Triki, a diplomat. She keeps a low profile and has never appeared alongside her husband. The couple is childless.

Abdelaziz Bouteflika was born to Ahmed Bouteflika and Mansouria Ghezlaoui. His siblings include three half-sisters (Fatima, Yamina, and A�cha), four brothers (Abdelghani, Mustapha, Abderahim and Sa�d), and a sister (Latifa).

Bouteflika grew up in Oujda, a Moroccan city, and went to three schools there: "Sidi Ziane", "El Hoceinia" and the "Abdel Moumen" High-school. He also studied at Kadiri Zaoui, an Islamic religious school, there.

In 1956, Bouteflika joined the Army of National Liberation which was the military limb of the National liberation Front party. He received military training at the "Ecole des Cadres" in Dar El Kebdani, Morocco.

Between 1957 and 1958, as controller of the Wilaya V, he was responsible for reporting the situation at the Moroccan border and in west Algeria. He was later appointed administrative secretary of Houari Boum�dienne.

In 1962, when Algeria became independent, as an influential member of Oujda group, he united with Boum�dienne and the border groups, to support Ahmed Ben Bella against the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic.

He became a member of the Constituent Assembly, and subsequently, Minister for Youth and Sport in the Ahmed Ben Bella government. Iin1963, he was appointed as Minister for Foreign Affairs.

He supported Houari Boum�dienne’s military coup which successfully removed Ben Bella. He continued to be the Foreign Affairs Minister, until Boum�dienne’s death in 1978.

President Bouteflika got a five-year economic plan underway in 2000, called the Support Plan for Economic Recovery. It produced satisfactory results, as the economy grew 5% annually, complemented by fiscal reforms.

Ending Algeria’s policy of isolation, he presided over the African Union, facilitated the Algiers Peace Treaty between Eritrea and Ethiopia, and hosted President Chirac of France in 2003.