Colonel Mahmoud Chérif (1912–1987) was an Algerian military leader and politician.
After school, he joined the French army and graduated from training courses with the rank of lieutenant.
After the war, he joined Ferhat Abbas's UDMA movement, which worked peacefully—but unsuccessfully—for Algerian rights.
Soon after the outbreak of the Algerian War of Independence in 1954, he joined the Front de libération nationale (FLN) resistance movement, where his military command experience guaranteed him an important role.
When the FLN created its government-in-exile (GPRA) in 1958, Chérif was made minister of armament and materiel under Abbas's presidency, until a 1960 reshuffle.