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Khaled Nizar (1937-2023), the former Algerian Minister of Defense, and the fourth Chief of Staff of the Algerian Army, a military and political figure who played a pivotal role in shaping the political scene in Algeria, especially in the period known as the “Black Decade” in the nineties of the twentieth century, which marked contemporary history. For Algeria.
He was called “the maker of presidents,” “the father of the crutch,” and also “the architect of the black decade,” which means the ten years that followed the incident of canceling the results of the 1992 legislative elections, the years that witnessed acts of violence and bombings that destabilized the country for a decade.
General Nizar was subjected to several international prosecutions – after his departure from the world of politics – on charges related to murder and torture, but he remained free until his death.
Birth and upbringing
Khaled Nizar was born in the village of Suriana in the state of Batna, which is located in the Aures region, eastern Algeria, on December 25, 1937, to a family of 14 individuals.
His father, Rahal Nizar, worked as a sergeant in the French army. He was conscripted in 1916 and left military service in 1931. He then practiced nursing without an academic degree, relying on some of what he learned during his service in the French army.
Khaled Nizar’s mother died in 1944 when he was not yet seven years old.
He married and had three children, and one of them accused him in 2020 of killing his mother, but Khaled completely denied that accusation, and stated at the time that his son was mentally ill.
Study and training
In 1945, Khaled Nizar entered the village school at the age of eight, a relatively late age, where he memorized the Qur’an and learned the Latin letters. After that, he moved to the parents’ school, and from there to the second school for French colonizers.
In 1949, he succeeded in completing his primary education and enrolling in the “Soldiers’ Sons” school in the city of Miliana.
In 1955, he joined the French Military School “Saint-Maxon”, where he graduated in 1957 with the rank of lieutenant in the French army. He then worked in the French 13th Division stationed in Germany.
In late 1958, he fled the French army to join the first division of the Algerian National Liberation Army, which was headed by the late Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid. Suspicions were directed towards him during that period due to his late joining the revolution.
Many say that these doubts were behind his stay in Tunisia – where he stayed until Algeria gained its independence in 1962 – and his undertaking of training only the Algerian revolutionaries, while there were those who attributed the matter to the fact that he possessed the military experience and know-how that he obtained through his affiliation with the French army.
Military march
His military academic training, in addition to his work with the revolutionaries, allowed him to climb the military ranks after independence, especially after the late President Houari Boumediene in the mid-1970s sought the help of a wing affiliated with Khaled Nizar in the Algerian Ministry of Defense.
In 1978, after the departure of President Houari Boumediene and Chadli Bendjedid assuming the reins of power in Algeria, Khaled Nezzar’s promotions began to follow at a rapid pace, as in 1982 he was appointed commander of the Fifth Military District in Constantine, eastern Algeria, and in 1987 commander of the Algerian Land Army, then deputy chief of staff of the army. This was before the end of 1988.
The events of October 5, 1988, which affected most of the Algerian states as a result of the deteriorating living conditions, widespread unemployment, and economic collapse, in which more than 600 people were killed, forced Benjedid to give Khaled Nizar grave and advanced responsibilities in order to control the Algerian street, which made him one of The most important decision makers in the country.
Politician in military uniform
On July 10, 1990, Ben Jadid appointed him Minister of Defense, the first high-level managerial position held by Khaled Nizar. In 1991, after the Islamic Salvation Front party won the legislative elections, Khaled Nazar announced the cessation of the electoral process.
The plan of Defense Minister Khaled Nizar, supported by one of the influential wings in power, was to reject the results of the first round of the legislative elections, which took place in December 1992, and then work to persuade President Chadli Bendjedid to announce the cessation of the electoral process, and for him to be at the forefront in his capacity. decision maker.
But on January 11, 1992, Ben Jadid announced his sudden resignation, which sparked great controversy in the political arena, given the events that Algeria was experiencing at the time, especially since the decision came a few days before the date that was scheduled to hold the second round of legislative elections.
The decision to cancel the elections was followed by another decision taken in March 1992, as a result of which the Islamic Salvation Front party was dissolved and prevented from participating in political life.
As soon as Ben Jadid resigned, Khaled Nizar became a member of the Supreme Council of State, which appointed Mohamed Boudiaf as president of the country. Khaled remained in this position until the end of the council’s term, and on July 27, 1993, he resigned from the Algerian Ministry of Defense.
Khaled Nizar’s name was associated with the events that took place in Algeria in 1988, when live bullets were used against demonstrators, causing the death of more than 600 people. Charges were increased against the Minister of Defense of the “Black Decade” after Chadli’s resignation and his support for halting the electoral process, and the country’s entry into what is known as the “Black Decade.” “Blood Decimal.”
After his resignation from the country’s presidency, Chadli Benjedid accused him of being a “spy working for France,” which Nizar repeatedly denounced in his statements. Many accusations were also directed against him, including setting up detention centers in the desert, to which everyone suspected of having a relationship with the Islamic Salvation Front was transferred.
In 1993, Khaled Nizar was subjected to a failed assassination attempt, which made him move away little by little until he withdrew from political life after Liamine Zeroual took power in 1994, and entered the world of business, as he founded in 2000 an Internet services company with his sons, with a capital then amounting to $6. Millions of Algerian dinars.
Trials
Internal and external parties held him responsible for the bloodbath that Algeria witnessed in the 1990s, while soldiers who fled abroad revealed the role of the army in massacres committed against Islamist families to lure them from the mountains, and they were marketed as being carried out by “extremist elements.”
In 2001 and 2002, the French judiciary sought to arrest him on charges related to “practicing torture or covering it up” during his tenure as Ministry of Defense, but he was able to leave Paris before his arrest.
In October 2012, the Swiss judicial authorities arrested Khaled Nizar for 36 hours on charges of committing crimes against humanity during the dark decade, in which more than 250,000 Algerians were killed or missing. He was then released after the Algerian Foreign Ministry intervened, and the A number of Algerian figures signed a petition signed by 177 activists, politicians and journalists for his release, and Nizar committed to cooperating with the Swiss judiciary during the investigation.
On July 31, 2012, the Federal Criminal Court in Switzerland issued a decision to revoke Khaled Nizar’s diplomatic immunity, allowing him to be tried in Switzerland.
After the outbreak of the movement on February 22, 2019, Nizar was accused by the late Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army, Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah, of collaborating with Said, brother of the late President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, to abort the Algerian movement, a charge that was not proven by the judiciary.
The judiciary dropped the charges against Khaled Nizar, which led him to return to Algeria in December 2020 after the departure of Gaid Salah.
His writings
He has published many books; Which:
- Memoirs of General Khaled Nazar – Defeating a programmed retreat (2000).
- Memories of Struggle (2001).
- War Diaries (2002).
- Paris Trial (2003).
- A Testament of Uselessness (2003 and republished in 2019 under the title “Bouteflika…Indicators of Collapse”).
- Abolition of the electoral process (2005).
- 2nd Mobile Infantry Brigade 1968-1969 (2010).
- The complete memoirs of Major General Khaled Nazar in two parts (2018).
His death
General Khaled Nizar died on December 30, 2023 at his residence in Algiers, at the age of 86, after a struggle with illness.
