Algeria on Monday laid to rest its former president, Liamine Zeroual, with full military honors in his hometown of Batna.
The 84-year-old former general, who passed away on Saturday after a long illness at a military hospital in Algiers, was remembered as a key figure in the country’s modern history.
President Abdelmadjid Tebboune was among those who attended the funeral to pay their respects.Zeroual served as president from 1994 to 1999. He began his career as a young fighter in Algeria’s National Liberation Army during the war for independence from France. By 1988, he had risen to the rank of general, and in 1993 he was appointed Minister of Defence.In 1995, he oversaw the country’s first multi-party presidential election and went on to win with more than 60% of the vote.
Even after leaving office, Zeroual remained popular among many Algerians, though he consistently refused calls forget him to run for the presidency again.
The Algerian government declared three days of national mourning in his honor.Zeroual’s death marks the passing of one of the last prominent figures from Algeria’s generation of independence fighters who later shaped the country’s political landscape in the 1990s.