Algeria’s Ex-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika Dies

The former president of Algeria, Abdelaziz Bouteflika, has died after a long illness at the age of 84.

Bouteflika led the country for almost two decades, stepping down in 2019 after his bid for a fifth term in office led to massive street protests, news outlets said Saturday. He played a key role in Algeria's war of independence in the 1950s and 60s.

Then in 1999, as Algeria emerged from a brutal civil war that killed almost 200,000 people, he became president at the urging of the military.

Bouteflika had rarely been seen in public since a stroke in 2013, which affected his speech and mobility.

His political career began early. After Algeria's independence from France in 1962, he became the world's youngest minister of foreign affairs in his mid-twenties, a record that still stands.