Ahmed Gaid Salah

Ahmed Gaid Salah
أحمد قايد صالح
Ahmed Gaid Salah in 2006
Chief of Staff of the People's National Army
In office 3 August 2004 – 23 December 2019
President	Abdelaziz Bouteflika Abdelmadjid Tebboune
Preceded by	Mohamed Lamari
Succeeded by	Saïd Chengriha
Deputy Minister of Defense
In office 11 September 2013 – 23 December 2019
Succeeded by	Vacant
Personal details
Born	(1940-01-13)13 January 1940 Batna, French Algeria
Died	23 December 2019(2019-12-23) (aged 79) Algiers, Algeria
Military service
Allegiance	Algeria
Branch/service	Algerian People's National Army
Years of service	1957–2019
Rank	Lieutenant general
Unit	Corps of Artillery
Commands	Chief of Staff of the People's National Army
Battles/wars	Algerian war of independence Sand War War of Attrition Western Sahara War Algerian Civil War

Ahmed Gaid Salah (Arabic: أحمد قايد صالح; 13 January 1940 – 23 December 2019^[1]) was a senior leader in the Algerian People's National Army. In 2004, he was appointed by then-President Abdelaziz Bouteflika to the position of chief of staff of the army. On 15 September 2013, he was appointed Deputy Minister of Defense. Gaid Salah was promoted to the rank of general in 1993. He was married and father of seven children. Gaid Salah served as Algeria's de facto leader in 2019.^[2]