Saïd Mohammedi

Born in the Berber Kabyle region of Tizi Ouzou, Saïd Mohammadi served in the French army. Attracted to Algerian nationalism, and intensely religious, he became involved with the Mufti of Jerusalem, Hajj Amin al-Husseini. During World War II, he joined the Mufti to work with Nazi Germany, hoping that Hitler's defeat of France would lead to the liberation of Algeria and other French colonies. He enlisted in the Wehrmacht and fought in the Balkans (Yugoslavia and Greece) as well as on the Russian front during Operation Barbarossa. After a stay in Berlin, he received the Iron Cross First Class, and was an exemplary soldier.

In the summer of 1944, along with five others (Algerians and Germans), he was sent by the Abwehr on intelligence and sabotage missions to Algeria, but was arrested in the region of Tebessa and sentenced to life in prison.

Saïd Mohammedi was an activist for the North African Star, the PPA and the MTLD. He made contact with the resistance as soon as he was released from prison in 1952.

In 1956, he participated in the Soummam congress with Krim Belkacem, of whom he was the first Deputy, to dissipate he became First Colonel of Wilaya III, with the commanders Amirouche Ait Hamouda, Abderrahmane Mira and Commander Kaci as deputy. He also became a member of the CNRA.

During the years 1957, elements of the MNA, supported by the French army, organized military actions against the ALN, eliminating soldiers and officers. In retaliation for these actions, Lieutenant Bariki organized an attack against the messalist centers considered to be counter revolutionary.

As Head of Wilaya III, Mohammedi Said sends captain Mohand Arab Bessaoud to investigate first, then Commander Amirouche Ait Hamouda secondly, which again confirms Captain Arab's report. Mohammedi said to assume the events of Melouza although he was not directly given the order.

Known for his mobilizing speeches, he successfully organized the troops and instilled in them rigor and the military spirit, thereby making Wilaya III the most powerful and best organized of the Wilayas. Fact which earned him to be chosen by his peers to create the Academy of senior officers in Cairo with a view to being appointed as the first general officer of the ALN; as a result, he was appointed by the GPRA Chief of Staff. He thus took command of the ALN.

In 1957, he was appointed First Chief of the Military Organization Committee (COM) by the CCE. After a first reorganization, he was in charge of the COM Est, which brought together representatives of Wilaya I, II and III. During a second reorganization of the COM, he was appointed Minister of State of the GPRA, until the independence of Algeria.

He is elected member of the Political Bureau at the Congress of Tripoli. He is responsible for the Education and Public Health sector. Deputy of Tizi Ouzou on September 20, 1962, he was appointed Minister of Former Mujahedin and War Victims in the first government of Ahmed Ben Bella. On May 16, 1963, he became 2nd vice-president of the Council, and member of the Central Committee and the Political Bureau of the FLN on April 24, 1964. Still a deputy, he was dismissed by Ben Bella; he lost his ministerial post during the reshuffle of December 2, 1964, following his opposition to the personal power of Ben Bella which was gradually being put in place. He calls for giving voice to the people and for free elections.

In 1965, he became a member of the Revolutionary Council, after Colonel Boumediene took power. In 1967, during the commemoration of the death of Amirouche Aït Hamouda in the village of Tassaft Ouguemoun, he gave a last meeting in which he denounced the autocratic policy of Boumédiène. He designates him by name as a despot and a dictator. The latter assigned him under house arrest for three years.

In 1991, in the documentary The Algerian Years, Colonel Mohammedi assumes and covers his soldiers who took part in the massacre of Melouza, against the messalists. At the end of his life, he was a supporter of the Islamic Salvation Front (FIS), in which he saw a popular movement capable of changing the regime in place.

He died on December 5, 1994 in Paris.

• Achour Cheurfi, La classe politique algérienne, de 1900 à nos jours. Dictionnaire biographique (Casbah Editions, 2nd edition, Algiers 2006)
• Jacques Duchemin, Histoire du F. L. N. (Editions Mimouni, Algiers 2006)

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