Word: bella
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Presumably Ben Bella has no such "invasion" in mind, being well aware that whoever starts a civil war at this moment of victory might win an initial battle, but will be discredited in the eyes of war-weary Moslems...
Next day. Premier Benkhedda caved in and accepted the authority of the new politburo. Though Ben Bella was still 285 miles away in Tlemcen, Benkhedda's Cabinet ministers began to flee Algiers, leaving Benkhedda holed up in the Palais d'Eté, guarded by a company of loyal soldiers. (Toward week's end, the ministers shamefacedly began to slink back into the city; one sneaked upstairs to his quarters in the Hotel Aletti through the back door.) Two government ministers, however, left Algiers not in flight but ostensibly to fight. Tough, able Belkacem Krim, who conducted...
Momentarily Ben Bella's drive seemed stalled; Kabylia's mountain passes, known as "The Gates of Hell," command the roads to Algiers, and a determined defense could easily thwart a Ben Bella military operation to take over the capital...
...Brink. Amid rumors that 30 people had been killed in the takeover of Constantine, public opinion temporarily began to turn away from Ben Bella. Though no outside newsmen had been in Constantine, reporters filed stories that Algeria was "teetering on the brink of civil war." Down from Paris flew a whole new contingent of correspondents, searching in vain for the war. Almost triumphantly, Ben Bella annouced that actually fewer than five people had been killed in the Constantine "skirmish." To show his good faith, Ben Bella ordered the release of the Cabinet minister his forces had captured...
...Bella sent his most trusted lieutenant, Mohammed Khidder, to Algiers to work out a peaceful takeover agreement with Benkhedda. His forces continued to fan out over the country, however, took control of the important east Algeria seaport of Philippeville. Unexpectedly Krim also showed up in Algiers, speaking more mellowly; he would not attack the Ben Bella forces, he said, would only resist any invasion of the Kabylia...