ALGIERS, Algeria – Algeria says Ali Kafi, the man who led the country for two years after the 1992 military coup that aimed at stopping Islamists from winning elections, has died in Geneva at age 85.
Kafi, whose death Tuesday followed a long illness, led the High Committee of State from 1992 to 1994.
His rule followed the assassination of Mohammed Boudiaf, who was briefly president after generals forced Chadli Benjedid to resign.
The coup sparked a civil war that lasted more than a decade and cost 200,000 lives.
Kafi was a leading member of an Algerian underground that fought for independence from France from 1954 to 1962.
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika declared eight days of mourning in Kafi's honor. Kafi's body will lie in state Wednesday and be buried later that day.
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