Rachid Chebcheb
Born 9 February 1941, a pupil of the Essaâda school. Taken from his home on 14 March 1957, in his father's absence, by the “green berets”. He never returned.
Source : 1000autres.org (« Mille autres »)
Memory · documented dossier
Kouba and the Algerian Revolution
1954 — 1962
From a working-class commune to the networks of the Battle of Algiers, from the patriotic self-dissolution of Muslim sport to the disappeared whose families still await an answer: what the archives now allow us to establish — and to honour.
A commune at war
During the liberation war, Kouba was no distant backdrop: a working-class commune of Greater Algiers, it lived to the rhythm of the Algiers Autonomous Zone — checkpoints, sweeps, arrests. The great raids of the 1957 Battle of Algiers and their enforced disappearances reached its streets, from rue de Cambrai to rue de l'Oasis.
This page gathers facts established by verifiable public sources: the historians' project “Mille autres”, the colonial archives (ANOM), the press and encyclopaedias. It also states plainly what remains to be documented.
Method
No name, no date is invented. Every statement carries its source; anything not cross-checked bears the “to confirm” badge. The memory of the chouhada demands this rigour.
Kouba's documented disappeared
The “Mille autres” project (historians Malika Rahal and Fabrice Riceputi) records, file by file, the people abducted by the French army in Algiers in 1957-58 who never returned — “thousands of Maurice Audins”. Among them, residents of Kouba:
Mohand Maouène
Born in 1912 in the Haut-Sébaou. Café owner at 14 rue de l'Oasis and FLN treasurer, he sheltered militants — including Ali la Pointe. Seized at home on 5 August 1958; five days later the gendarmes returned his papers, wallet and watch to his wife without a word.
Source : 1000autres.org · ANOM · family testimony (2025)
Mohamed Benhaddad
One of the six founders of Riadha Club de Kouba in 1945, he joined the liberation struggle and went missing in 1957. The municipal stadium bears his name: every Raed match is played at a martyr's home. A “Mille autres” file under the same name (born 1922, taken 30 July 1957) may concern him — identification to be confirmed.
Source : Wikipédia AR/FR · 1000autres.org to confirm
These files are probably not exhaustive: other Koubans may appear in the archives under different addresses or spellings. The register remains open.
1956: the Raed's patriotic self-dissolution
In May 1956 the FLN issued a solemn call to the “Muslim” clubs: boycott every colonial sporting competition. The response was total — all Muslim sporting associations of Algeria dissolved themselves and remained inactive until further notice.
The RCK, founded in 1945 with an entirely Algerian squad, entered six seasons of voluntary silence: from 1956 to 1962, not one official match. Giving up the football you love for a greater cause — that too is the club's history.
6
seasons of voluntary sporting silence (1956-1962): competition resumed only with independence.
Source : Wikipédia FR « Championnats d'Algérie de football (1957-1962) » · « Histoire du football en AFN ».
« Don't wait for us… — on a postcard of Kouba's hillsides in 1903, people wrote travel news. Half a century later, families from those same streets were waiting for news that never came. »
Editorial parallel by the portal — “Memory in pictures” collections.
National figures tied to Kouba
Ferhat Abbas
First president of the GPRA. Married in Kouba, he lived there until his death in 1985 — the commune was home port to “the president of Algeria at war”.
Mohamed Lamine Debaghine
Physician and nationalist leader, GPRA minister of Foreign Affairs. He lived on rue Dixmude, in Kouba.
Bachir El Ibrahimi
President of the Association of Algerian Muslim Ulema, whose headquarters stood in Kouba — a beacon of identity under colonisation.
Saïd Mohammedi
ALN colonel (Wilaya III), later minister; he lived in Kouba after independence.
Ahmed Francis
GPRA minister of Economy; he too lived in Kouba.
And the 1903 mosque
Arabic sources describe Old Kouba's mosque (1903) as a “stronghold” of Arab-Islamic identity against the colonial enterprise — a quiet but constant role, until independence.
Source : Wikipédia FR « Kouba » (personnalités liées à la commune).
Timeline — Kouba in the storm
1954
1 November: the revolution begins
The FLN launches the armed struggle. Algiers and its outskirts — Kouba included — enter seven years of war.
1956
May: the Muslim clubs dissolve themselves
At the FLN's call, Algerian sport withdraws from every colonial competition. The RCK falls silent — patriotically.
1957
The Battle of Algiers strikes Kouba
Raids and enforced disappearances: on 14 March, schoolboy Rachid Chebcheb (16) is taken from rue de Cambrai. Mohamed Benhaddad goes missing the same year.
1958
The repression continues
On 5 August, café owner Mohand Maouène — the FLN treasurer who sheltered Ali la Pointe — is taken from rue de l'Oasis. He is never seen again.
1962
Independence
Ceasefire on 19 March, independence on 5 July. Football returns; the RCK is reborn on its ground.
After 1962
The town honours its own
The stadium takes the name of chahid Mohamed Benhaddad; avenues are renamed (Fellah Mohamed, Frères Abdeslami); the “Les Fusillés” station marks the commune's gateway.
Places of memory
The Mohamed-Benhaddad stadium
The RCK's home bears the name of a club co-founder who died for independence. Playing here is already an act of remembrance.
The “Les Fusillés” station
At the Ruisseau, on Kouba's northern edge, the metro-tram hub perpetuates the memory of colonial executions; the precise origin of the name is still being documented.
Names returned to the town
Avenue de la République→Avenue Fellah Mohamed
Avenue Lavigerie→Avenue des Frères Abdeslami
Ongoing inventory — after French Wikipedia, “Kouba”. Every renamed plaque is an act of memory.
The register remains open
Families of Kouba's chouhada and moudjahidine: your testimonies, documents and photographs are this page's future. The portal collects them with rigour and respect, alongside the Ministry of Moudjahidine monographs.
Sources for this page
- Projet « Mille autres » (M. Rahal, F. Riceputi — INA/ANOM) : 1000autres.org — fiches Chebcheb, Maouène, Benhaddad (août 2026).
- Wikipédia FR : « Kouba » · « Stade Mohamed-Benhaddad » · « Championnats d'Algérie de football (1957-1962) » · « Histoire du football en Afrique française du Nord » · « Les Fusillés (métro d'Alger) ».
- Wikipédia AR : « القبة (ولاية الجزائر) ».
- APS / Algerian press (RCK foundation, tributes) — consulted in 2026.