Notable Farhis

- Sheikh Si Belgacen Nacer 1885-1916:

Sheikh Si Belgacem ou'Nacer was a pious scholar. The first Farhi that has truly brought modern religious and Arabic education to the village of Beni Ferah and its surroundings. He started, albeit a brief, cultural awekening and enthusiasm for education in a village submerged in ignorance and misery.

He started his own learning at a kuttab in Beni Farah then moved to Menaa, in Oued Abdi, to the Ben Abbas' Zawiya for further education and then to Sidi Okba near Biskra. Although he was blind since the age of nine he quicly showed a great ability to read the arabic language and religious texts. This facilitaed his move to an even higher school in Constantine, the culture capital of eastern Algeria, where he was a pupil of Si Hamdane Lounici (an opposant to French colonialism and teacher of Hadeeth in Makkah) along Abdelhamid Ben Badis who became later the gtreatest Algerian educator and reformer.

Belgacem Nacer was a brilliant student who was particulary good at Arabic poetry and known to memorise thousands of verses. The French scholar Fanny Colonna recounted how after his graduation notables in Constantine and other towns offered him money and wives to lure him to be a teacher in their schools. Shiekh Belgacem declined the offers and shoose instead to go beck to his natal village and launch a new independent school there where instead of only teaching the memorisation of Quran (as it was the practice for most of schools frequented by Algerian muslims at the time) he incorporated the study of Arabic language, numeracy, logic and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence). This was a very succesful combination that made Farhis pull their efforts together and build a new mosque-medrassa, known as Al Jamaa n'Ah Abdelkarim, with an important waqf or endowwment to sustain it including a public bath (hammam). The medrassa saw a quick success and attracted scholars from outside of Beni Farah and pupils from neghbouring tribes and places. Even the influencial second in command of Tarika al Rahmania in Biskra, Sheikh Sidi Lakhdar, sent his son to be educated by Sheikh Si Belgacem. That's a real revolution given the poverty and lack of any educational traditions in this isolated mountainous village.

1916 was a year of great hardship for Algerians especially the inhabitants of the Aures area: military conscription (and subsequent combat casualties of the great war), grain confiscation, high taxes and spread of malnutrition and diseases followed by a revolt crashed by the French authorities. In this year Sheikh Belgacem caught an unkown disease and died at the tender age of 31 before he could complete his ambitious project. His death was a great blow tto the revival of Beni Farah in particular and the south of Aures in general. He was buried in a huge funeral the village has never seen before or after as reported by Amar Nezzal.

Sources:

Fanny Colonna, Les versets de l'invincibilité : permanence et changements religieux dans l'Algérie contemporaine.
Andre Basset, Textes berbères de l'Aurès (Parler des Aït Frah)

- Amar Nezzal (Amar Oubouzaggan) 1909-1973:

Amar Nezzal: photo courtesy of his nephew Malik Djafer

He is the son of Belgacem Nezzal and Mbarka Lakcir, born in 1909 in Beni Farah (now Ain Zaatout, Wilaya of Biskra). After the traditional Quran and primary education in his natal village he moved to Constantine for high school and then to Algiers for further education as a Muslim affairs judge within the colonial administration. He immigrated to Paris in 1940 where he graduated in 1945 in Arabic, Berber and law studies.

After graduation he worked as a repetiteur at the Ecole Nationale des Langues Orientales Vivantes de Paris (Langues O) until 1950. While in "Langues O" he assisted the eminent linguist and founder of the modern Berber linguistics Andre Basset in numerous researches. His linguistic and anthropologic research contributed to the documentation of the Shawi language, particularly its Farhi variant, and Farhi social life during the first part of the 20th century. According to Fanny Colonna he also worked, while in Paris, as a judicial expert, radio broadcaster and college teacher and was a well known and respected personality in theatre and broadcasting circles in Paris in the 1940s and 1950s. During his stay in France Amar always kept in touch with his village by financially helping his father and frequent visits.

In 1955 he suffered a nervous breakdown and stayed in a psychiatric hospital in Paris. He stayed homeless after leaving hospital and had a very hard time in the French capital. After independence he returned to Algeria and found a job as a college teacher of Arabic in Batna in 1967 and then Constantine until 1973. During all this time he was still suffering from mental health problems and lived a reclusive life. He died in Constantine in 1973.

There are no books or academic publications bearing the name of Amar Nezzal despite the rich collection of studies he conducted under the supevision of Andre Basset. It seems this was a big blow to Amar's aspirations and contributed to his psychiatric woes. The essence of Basset - Nezzal collaboration the "Textes berberes de l'Aures (parler des Ait Frah)" was not published until after the death of former and only under his (Basset) authorship.

Although there are some myths circulated recently in social media and some Algerian newspapers (francophone in particular) about Amar Nezzal being a militant of Berber language and culture but this is far from being true. Amar always considered himself an academician not a militant when it comes to his Berber related work.

Moreover the suggestion that he was subjected to harassement by the Algerian authorities because of his supposed Berberist views is a grotesque fabrication (a very new lie in fact). There's not a single evidence that he was prosecuted by the government.

Amar is from a relatively wealthy and educated family of Ah Frah. His father Belgacem was eductaed at the local French school and managed to get the primary education certficate which was a considerable achievement at that time. He refused to seek a job within the colonial administration but prefred farming his land like the vast majority of Farhis.. Belgacem Nezzal had four sons, Mohammed, Said, Amar and Saleh, and numerous daughters. The eldest, Mohammed, was a very respected personality in Beni Farah, a graduate of Benbadis Insitute in Constantine and the taylor of his village making especially bernousses and kashabias. Said was also an educated man and a salesman often living outside Algeria. Saleh was the only unedicated son among his brothers and lived all his life in Beni Farah as a farmer. I knew him very well and have had long talks with him.

Amar Nezzal's cousins Ali and Mohamed worked as French teachers in Beni Farah but left at the beginning of the Revolution. They became well known educators in the province of Constantine after the independence.

The family lived in a traditional berber two-storey house at the easten edge of what is now known as Al Bassanath among a small block of houses that's in the past detached from the main Thaqliheth. Here the houses are closer to orchids and a pleasant irrigation saqiyah.

- Mohamed Benhamza (Si Mohand Oulbachir) 1910-1992:

Born in 16 May 1910 in Ain Zaatout to Bachir Ben Hamza and Aicha Beledjebl in a very large but poor family. Sheikh Si Mohand Oulbachir learnt the Quran in the village and managed to travel to Constantine and be a pupil of Abdelhamid Benbadis the father of the reformist movement in Algeria. After his return to his village, the young Si Mohand opened a Quranic school near his home that also served as a community school teaching in Arabic in defiance to the colonial ban of such establishments. He also taught at the newly opened madrassa sponsored by Jamiat el Oulama before it was shut down by the colonial authorities. After the independence he worked as the imam of Thaawint mosque in Beni Farah for more than half a century before moving to Biskra. He always lead a unified Farhi jamaa (congregation) for eid prayers in open-air whether it's cold or hot, dry or rainy; a tradition that's sadly lost after his death.

Sheikh Si Mohand was also a militant of the Algerian Revolution.

- Professor Ali Benslitane (Ali Oussaid) ?-2017:

The rector of the University of Constantine, one of the largest universities in Algeria, in the 1980s.

- Ambassador Smail Chergui (Smain Oumaammar) 1956-:

A diplomat with the Algerian Foreign Affairs ministry since his university graduation. He's born in 4 September 1956 in Beni Farah to Ali Chergui (also known as Massaoud Oumaammar) and Zinab Fedden Sder (Zinab Outchettouh). He started his education at the local school and Quranic madrassa in Beni Farah but his family soon moved to Batna.

He started his diplomatic career in 1980. He worked in the Algerian embassy in Morocco and at the Press Department of the Algerian Foreign Affairs ministry before heading the Foreign Minister's chancellery. He was sent to Geneva in Switzerland as Consul General before holding the position of extraordinary plenipotentiary ambassador of Algeria in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for many years in the 1990-2000s (In 2002 he's the Sub-Regional Dean of North African Ambassadors in Addis Ababa). In Addis Ababa Smail Chergui was the head of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union from July 1999 to July 2000. During this time he played a major role in negotiating the Algiers Agreement that ended the Eritrean-Ethiopian War, a border war fought by the two countries from 1998 to 2000.

Ismail Chergui also was Algeria's permanent representative to the Organization of African Unity (OAU).

After returning from Addis Ababa he was appointed Director General of the Africa Department of the Algerian Foreign Affairs ministry's central office (according to a short interview he has given to the Russian monthly Diplomat, issue 10, 2008).

In early 2008 Smail Chergui was appointed as the Algerian ambassador to the Russian Federation. In 24 February 2010 he presented his credentials to the Arminian president as the ambassador of Algeria to the Republic of Armenia with residence in Moscow.

- Ismail Chettouh (Si Smain) 1932-2016:

An incredibly resilient shopkeeper who started the business in the early 1960s and kept it running since ever. The shop serves people practically 7 days a week, 24 hours a day and sells everything imaginable: fresh and dry food, drinks, tobacco, medicines, clothes, footwear, DIY tools, school ware, ammunition, etc. Si Smain is a talib of Quran; he always takes part in funeral recitations.

- Lazhari Behhaz (Lazhari Oubahhaz):

Ex-Moudjahid and industrialist based in Algiers.

- Boubaker Zouaoui (Gaga Ouzouaoui) 1951-:

A self made rich entrepreneur specialising in building and construction. He is from a modest background with no formal education whatsoever. The young shepherd has started his business as a taxi driver then quickly moved to currency trading, transportation and finally construction. To his credit the guy has kept down to earth and he is well respected by all Farhis.

Gaga Ouzouaoui is the son of Mohamed Zouaoui and Oum esaad Manzer; he's born in 31 July 1951.

- Mokhtar Ghrara (Makhtar Oughrara) 1942-2014:

He's born in 22 July 1942 to Ahmed Ghrara and Mbarka Gachem. He knows a single workplace: café; and he's the manager of the oldest café in Beni Farah (L'kahwa n'Makhtar). He is probably the person that knows more about Farhis than anyone else.

- Ali Boudenet (Ali Ouboudount) 1934-:

A militant of the Algerian national movement before and during the revolution, then an apparatchik and former mayor of Beni Farah from 2002 to 2007. He's now a member of the Assembly Populaire de Wilaya, or APW, (a provincial legislature council) in Biskra.

Ali Boudenet's birthday is 06 February 1934. He's the son of Mohammed Boudenet and Fiala Labaal.

Ali Boudenet in his office in Beni Farah, November 2005

- General-Major Abdelhamid Abdou (Abdelkrim Ouyazza):

Promoted to the rank of General Major of the Armee Nationale Populaire (ANP) in 05 July 2004. He held the prestigious job of commander of the Academie Militaire Interarmes (Military Interservices Academy) of Cherchel, Algeria, until May 2005. Now retired and lives in Batna.

General Major Abdelhamid Abdou, December 2007

- Lieutenant Colonel Ammar Mallem (Ammar Oumaallam):

After many years as a moudjahid with the ALN (National Liberation Army) Ammar Mallem joined the algerian army to reach, at the end of his career, the second highest rank of ANP at that time, i.e., lieutenant colonel. He is now retired and lives in Batna.

- General-Major Mohammed-Salah Benbicha:

General Mohamed-Salah Benbicha is at the time of writing this the Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of National Defense (MoND) of Algeria; a key position within the Algerian army.

General Benbicha came to be known to the general public when he was appointed in Octobre 2013 as associate justice (juge-assesseur) of the military courts. In the same year he was quickly promoted as director of the National Service at the Ministry of National Defence (MoND). He stayed in this position for, relatively, a long time until July 2018.

He was then appointed as the head of military sports directorate for a brief time. In July 2018 he was appointed to the important position of director of Personnel within the MoND by the defunct General Ahmed Gaid Salah the then Chief of Staff of the Algerian People’s National Army.

On 15 March 2021 Major-General Mohamed-Salah Benbicha was appointed by the Chief of Staff of the People’s National Army, Saïd Chanegriha as Acting Secretary General of the Ministry of National Defense; a very important position within the Algerian army.

- Mohamed Bellounar (Salah Oumanzer or Si Salah) 1923-1999*:

Si Salah was an ALN officer and the Wali of Ouargla in the new independent Algeria. He's born in 1923 to Mohamed (ben Ali) Bellounar and Zohra Benbrahim. He was a nationalist militant with the Union Démocratique du Manifeste Algérien (UDMA) then the Mouvement Pour le Triomphe des Libertés Démocratiques (MTLD). He joined the FLN in 1955 and later became in officer of the historic Wilaya 6. As such he was a member of the mixed commission that supervised the ceasefire between the ALN and the French army in 1962. After the independence Si Salah was nominated the Wali (governor) of the Ouasis province based in the town of Ouargla in the south of Algeria until 1964. From 1966 to 1980 he was the director of a state owned textile factory in Oran until 1980 when he retired. He died in Oran in 1999.

*This short biography is written thanks to the valuable info contributed by Mohamed Seddik Bellounar, the eldest son the late Si Salah.

Algerian president Ahmed Ben Bella (in civilian clothes to the left), Colonel Mohamed Chaabani (in the middle) and the wali of Ouargla Mohamed Bellounar (to the right of the photo, in civilian clothes), December 1963

(photo published in http://colonelchaabani.net)

- Abdelmadjid Chelouai (Si Majid Ousimhand):

An ALN officer and FLN apparatchik.

- Ahmed Benbrahim 1936-2004:

An ALN officer and FLN apparatchik.

- Farida Balous (Farida Outblousse) 1944-:

She's the daughter of Ahmed Balous a victim of 8 May 1945 massacres in Guelma in the east of Algeria. After university graduation she worked as a TV news presenter with the public broadcaster Radiodiffusion-Télévision Algérienne (RTA) until 1975. She then moved to USA to get a postgraduation degree from Washington University School of Law. She returned to Algeria to be a lecturer at Algiers University. She is now retired and lives in Paris.

- Fadhila Bahhaz (Fadhila Outbahhaz) 1948(?)-:

TV presenter with Algeria's RTA (later to become ENTV) in the 1970-1980s. She is the daughter of Lazhari Bahhaz and Zohra Haddadi. Fadhila is a Farhia born in Biskra but she spent a part of her childhood in Beni Farah during the Algerian Revolution while her father was in the maquis of Djebel Beni Frah. After the independence Fadhila moved with her family to Algiers where she became a main presenter with the RTA.

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