Ahmed Francis

Ahmed Francis (b. in Relizane, 1912 - d. Geneva, 1968) was an Algerian politician and nationalist.

After studying medicine in Paris, France, Francis returned to Algeria where he became involved with the movement for Algerian rights headed by his relative, the moderate nationalist Ferhat Abbas. Like Abbas, he was arrested by colonial forces after the 1945 Sétif massacres, but later released. He then joined Abbas's UDMA movement, which demanded Algerian civil rights and full equality with non-Muslim French, but stopped short of independence from France.

Discouraged by increasing French political repression, he was eventually convinced to follow Abbas into exile in Cairo, to join the radical-nationalist Front de libération nationale (FLN), in 1956, two years after the FLN had begun an armed revolt for independence. He became a member of the Algerian government-in-exile, the GPRA, in the capacity of minister for economy and finances, arguably as something of a figurehead for more radical forces. As political infighting increased with independence approaching, he lost his place in the third (1961) ministerial lineup.

After independence, he briefly joined the military-backed government of president Ahmed Ben Bella, but resigned along with Abbas in protest of the single-party system set up and of the marginalization of Algeria's constitutional assembly. He did not re-enter politics, and died abroad in 1968.

* [http://cheliff.org/portail/?q=node/300 Short biography in French]