View source for Socialist Forces Front rebellion in Algeria

{{Short description|1960s military conflict in Algeria}}
{{Infobox military conflict
| conflict          = Socialist Forces Front rebellion in Algeria
| place             = [[Kabylia]], [[Algeria]]
| date              = 29 September 1963 – October 1964
| result            = Algerian government victory
*Rebellion defeated
*Aït Ahmed arrested
| combatant1        = {{flag|Algeria}}
| combatant2        = {{flagicon image|Flag of the Socialist Forces Front (2023).jpg}} [[Socialist Forces Front]]
| commander1        = [[Ahmed Ben Bella]]
| commander2        = [[Hocine Aït Ahmed]]
| casualties2       = 400 killed
| casualties1       = Unknown
}}
{{Campaignbox Berber separatism in North Africa}}
The '''Socialist Forces Front rebellion in Algeria''' took place in the [[Kabylia]] region of northern [[Algeria]] by the [[Socialist Forces Front]] (FFS) rebelling against the Algerian government under the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front]] (FLN). The rebellion was swiftly defeated by Algerian government forces and its leader [[Hocine Aït Ahmed]] was arrested.
== Background ==
The Socialist Forces Front (FFS) was formed by [[Hocine Aït Ahmed]] on 29 September 1963<ref name="Norton2001">{{cite book |author=Augustus Richard Norton |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k61qG1OlLl4C&pg=PA83 |title=Civil society in the Middle East. 2 (2001) |publisher=BRILL |year=2001 |isbn=90-04-10469-0 |page=83 |access-date=13 September 2014}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Leftist Parties of Algeria |url=http://www.broadleft.org/dz.htm |access-date=7 May 2016 |publisher=Broad Left}}</ref> in the city of [[Tizi Ouzou]] to oppose [[Ben Bella]]'s government. The FFS party of Aït Ahmed contested the authority of the [[National Liberation Front (Algeria)|National Liberation Front]], which had purged internal dissent and ruled Algeria as a [[one-party state]]. Aït Ahmed and others considered the central government led by Ben Bella [[Authoritarianism|authoritarian]].<ref name="Monbeig 1992 125–140">{{Cite journal |last=Monbeig |first=Pierre |date=1992 |title=Une opposition politique dans l'impasse. Le FFS de Hocine Aït-Ahmed |journal=Revue du monde musulman et de la Méditerranée |volume=65 |issue=1 |pages=125–140 |doi=10.3406/remmm.1992.1560 |issn=0997-1327}}</ref> This party grouped opponents of the regime, and a few days after its proclamation, Ben Bella sent the army into Kabylia to suppress the insurrection. Mohand Oulhadj also joined the rebellion because he believed that the ''[[mujahideen]]'' were not treated as they should have been.<ref>{{Citation |last=Said Malik Cheurfa ⵣ |title=Révolte de Hocine Ait Ahmed et Mohand Oulhadj en 28 septembre 1963 par Malik Cheurfa.flv |date=2011-08-03 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Esx2NFawWKM |access-date=2019-04-22}}{{cbignore}}{{Dead Youtube links|date=February 2022}}</ref>
== Rebellion ==
Following the party's creation, Aït Ahmed began an armed rebellion and captured a number of towns in mostly [[Berbers|Berber]] region of [[Kabylia]]. The government of Ahmed Ben Bella, supported by the [[National Liberation Army (Algeria)|National Liberation Army]], quickly recaptured dissident towns in a mostly bloodless confrontation. The FFS rebels were not supported by the people and were pushed into the mountains by the government's army.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=SSSR) |first1=Institut Afriki (Akademii͡a nauk |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=AfcEAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA84 |title=A History of Africa 1918-1967 |last2=Smirnov |first2=Sergeĭ Rufovich |date=1968 |publisher="Nauka" Publishing House |language=en}}</ref> Preferring to avoid direct conflict, the FFS and its soldiers retreated into the mountains from where they could launch guerrilla tactics. In 1964, it considered a merger with the [[Party of the Socialist Revolution]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bessaoud |first=Mohamed Arab |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W-JYDwAAQBAJ&dq=%22prs%22+%22ffs%22+%22fusion%22&pg=PT130 |title=Le F.F.S., espoir et trahison |date=1966-01-01 |publisher=FeniXX réédition numérique |isbn=978-2-402-20382-1 |language=fr}}</ref> The rebellion was defeated in 1964 and Hocine Aït Ahmed was arrested and sentenced to death.
In the beginning, the FFS wanted to negotiate with the government, but since no agreement was reached, the rebels took up arms and swore not to give them up as long as democratic principles and justice were not a part of the system. After Mohand Oulhadj's defection, Aït Ahmed could barely sustain the rebellion, and after the FLN congress on 16 April 1964, which reinforced the government's legitimacy, he was arrested in October 1964. As a consequence, the insurrection was a failure in 1965 because it was hugely repressed by the forces of the ALN, under Houari Boumédiène. In 1965 Aït Ahmed was sentenced to death, but later pardoned by Ben Bella. Approximately 400 deaths were counted amongst the rebels.<ref name="Monbeig 1992 125–140" />
The conflict resulted in 10 months of armed confrontation in the region, leaving more than four hundred dead, and most of the FLN leaders from Kabylia and some eastern provinces either executed or forced into exile.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Le Saout |first1=Didier |title=Émeutes et Mouvements sociaux au Maghreb |last2=Rollinde |first2=Marguerite |publisher=Karthala |year=1999 |isbn=978-2-865-37998-9 |pages=46}}</ref> Hocine Aït Ahmed escaped prison in 1966 and fled to Switzerland.
== References ==
{{Reflist}}
[[Category:1963 in Algeria]]
[[Category:1964 in Algeria]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1963]]
[[Category:Conflicts in 1964]]
[[Category:Rebellions in Algeria]]
[[Category:Berber separatism in North Africa]]
[[Category:Aftermath of the Algerian War]]
[[Category:Cold War rebellions]]