Ferhat Abbas was born in Douar Chemala near Jijel, Algeria on 24 October 1899 and died on 23 December 1985. Formerly an "assimilationist" not opposed to the French annexation but advocating an Algeria where Algerians would have the same rights as Frenchmen, he became disillusioned with France when his hopes were not realized, and turned to nationalism, issuing the "Manifesto of the Algerian People" in 1943, and forming the nationalist party Union Démocrate du Manifeste Algérien in 1946. Not long after the Algerian War of Independence against French rule began, he joined the Front de Libération Nationale, in September 1955, and became president of the provisional Algerian nationalist government from 1958 until 1961. Algeria became independent in 1962. From 1962 September 25 to 1963 September 15, Ferhat Abbas was President of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic. But he resigned in protest of the decision to establish a one-party state. He was then placed under house arrest until 1965.
