Algeria's former president Chadli Bendjedid died of cancer on Saturday, aged 83, the APS news agency reported. Bendjedid had been admitted to the Ain Naajda military hospital in the capital more than a week ago.

He 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. His advisers included current UN-Arab League peace envoy Lakhdar Brahimi.

Bendjedid kick-started the democratisation of government institutions in Algeria, notably by promulgating a pluralist constitution in 1989.He was born in April 1929 in Bouteldja in eastern Algeria near the Tunisian border.