Mohamed Boudiaf
In the military coup of 1992 that started the Algerian Civil War, he was prominent among the officers demanding then-President Chadli Bendjedid's resignation. According to Mohamed Samraoui, he was relieved of his functions by the next President, the short-lived Mohamed Boudiaf, in March 1992, and only regained them after Boudiaf's assassination. He was then put in charge of an anti-terrorism task force of 15,000 soldiers, the CCLAS ("Centre de commandement de la lutte antisubversive"). In July 1993, as Liamine Zeroual became Minister of Defense, Mohamed Lamari became Chief of Staff, a post in which he would remain for more than a decade of war.