Following appearances at the World Championships in 1983 and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, he rose to the peak of his region with a win at the 1984 African Championships in Athletics, edging his compatriot Kachkouche by such a narrow margin that they received the same time. This marked the start of his most successful period, as he won four further major titles after this. He retained his title at the 1985 African Championships, besting Shemsu Hassan by nearly nine minutes, and set a games record of 1:32:31 hours to win the 1985 Pan Arab Games that same year. In 1986 he topped the podium at the Maghreb Championships, beating runner-up Mohamed Haddadou by over fifteen minutes. He achieved a championship record of 1:30:39 hours en route to winning the 1987 Arab Athletics Championships.