Background
He was Moroccan-born teacher who played a big part in the revolutionary take-over of June 1965. Was a minister of the Algerian government from the years 1960-1970.
He was Moroccan-born teacher who played a big part in the revolutionary take-over of June 1965. Was a minister of the Algerian government from the years 1960-1970.
Educated in Morocco
Began teaching at Moulay Hassan School in Rabat.His political activity began through the Moroccan section of the General Union of Algerian Moslem Students (UGEMA), then he joined the freedom fighters of Wilaya V as a commander under Boumedienne. He went on special missions to France during the independence negotiations at Evian in 1962. Following the agreement he became western divisional commander. He returned to Algeria and was elected MP for Tlemcen in September 1962.
When Ben Bella became President and reformed the cabinet on September 18, 1963, he created a new Ministry of National Guidance with Belkacem as Minister. It gave him wide powers, covering information, education, youth and sport. It also kept him close to Boumedienne, who became First Deputy Premier. In April 1964 he was elected to the central committee of the FLN. On December 2, 1964, at the cabinet reshuffle he got the new portfolio of Minister of Education.
As one of the main planners of the June 19,1965, coup he became a member of the Revolutionary Council. He was not given a place in the cabinet. Instead he got the important assignment of FLN secretary-general on August 11, 1965. He was intended to reorganize the party and galvanize it into new activity—a task beyond anyone at that stage. In December 1967 his unimpressive record in that difficult assignment led to his temporary disappearance. He undertook various missions in the Arab world, including a visit to the Yemen.
In March 1968 he was brought back to the centre of government as Minister of Finance and Planning. Despite his competence at day-to-day administration he was always under pressure for ideas on new economic initiatives and seemed ill at ease. At the big reshuffle in July 1970 his ministry was split into two parts with one minister assigned to each and he was set aside for special duties as Minister without Portfolio.
As chairman of the National Commission for the Socialist Management of Institutions he started exploring projects in November 1972 aimed at greater worker participation in policy-making. Boumedienne put him in charge of the conference on emigration and made him liaison minister between the Revolutionary Council and the General Union of Algerian Workers (UGTA) for their fourth Congress in April 1973.
Seemingly stern and unsmiling in tinted rimless spectacles, he is nonetheless a friendly figure. Witty, and able to live by his wits, he seems assured of his a continuing important role.
He spent his entire childhood in Morocco. His father is a native of the Aures and his mother of Beni Mela.
