ALGIERS (AFP) ― Algeria’s former long-time President Chadli Bendjedid, acclaimed for having introduced democracy to government institutions, died of cancer on Saturday aged 83, the APS news agency reported.

Eight days of national morning have been declared. Bendjedid had been admitted to the Ain Naajda military hospital in Algiers more than a week ago. He was hospitalised in Paris last January for cancer treatment and returned to hospital for brief spells in May and October.

The former head of state will be buried on Monday in Algiers, at the El-Alia cemetery in Martyrs’ Square, according to the president’s office.

Bendjedid was one of Algeria’s longest-serving presidents, holding office from 1979 to 1992, when he was forced from power when the army stepped in to stop Islamists from winning the country’s first multi-party legislative elections.