M'hamed Yala

Yala was born on December 23, 1927, in to a Berber family in Tifra, Béjaïa Province, French Algeria.^[1][2] His first acts in politics began in the early 1950s as a leader of the Algerian Muslim Scouts. In 1954, at the outbreak of the Algerian War, he became the political leader in the FLN in Wilaya III.^[3] Yala then served as the FLN's ambassador to Tunis and Cairo, and then Germany.^[3] In 1958, Yala began serving in socialist countries, first as deputy ambassador of the FLN to Belgrade and then ambassador in Prague.^[3]

In 1964, Yala served as ambassador of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic (GPRA) to China.^[4][5] In 1965, he served as the wali of Algiers Province following the 1965 Algerian coup d'état, and was transferred to a position as wali of Constantine Province on August 18, 1970, with Slimane Hoffman taking over in Algiers.^[6][7] As wali of Constantine, Yala joined President Houari Boumédiène in a 1974 trip to China with other ministers.^[8] That same year, he became the advisor to Boumediene.^[9] Between 1977 and 1979, Yala served as the Algerian Minister of Commerce.^[9]

Yala served as Minister of Finance from 1979 to 1982, speaking at the 1979 International Monetary Fund fund policy discussions and attending the North–South Summit in Cancun, Mexico in 1981.^[10][11] In 1982, during a foreign debt crisis in Algeria, President Chadli Bendjedid appointed five Berbers to various positions, with Yala being appointed to the Minister of the Interior.^[2] In 1987, Yala was appointed as ambassador to the Soviet Union, and he resigned in 1988.^[3][12]

Yala died on September 29, 2021, at the age of 94.^[1] Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune expressed his condolences.^[1]