Word: bellas
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...rate that troubles keep piling up for Algerian President Ahmed ben Bella, he may never satisfy that longing to address the current session of the United Nations General Assembly. Fortnight ago, Ben Bella's bags were all packed when the Berber revolt in the Kabylia forced him to change plans. Then, after proclaiming with some exaggeration that the rebellion was crushed, Ben Bella confidently put the U.N. trip back on his schedule. Last week it was off again as the strongman faced a new crisis: a nasty border war with neighboring Morocco. Far from avoiding the clash, Ben Bella...
...other minerals. Morocco's King Hassan II claimed the area as part of his ancient kingdom, declared that the Algerian rebels had promised to turn it over in exchange for Morocco's crucial help during the guerrilla war against the French. No such thing, said Ben Bella; the land is Algerian and not subject to negotiation...
Political enmity heated up the feud over territory. Hassan, a reform-minded but high-living monarch, preserved his ties to the West, kept on thousands of French teachers and technicians to help independent Morocco get started. This policy of moderation was abhorrent to austere, leftist Strongman Ben Bella and his vindictive brand of socialism. The Algerian regime launched a virulent propaganda war against Morocco...
Meanwhile, war fever gripped Algeria. At his demagogic best, Ben Bella proclaimed total mobilization to fight the imaginary "collusion" between the Kabylia rebels and the "feudal monarchy" of Morocco. "Hassan to the gallows," yelled the crowd of 100,000. Thousands of jobless, hungry Algerians happily joined the army, partly to get a free meal ticket. Ben Bella showed up in the National Assembly in a brand-new battle jacket, urged the Deputies to "give up your neckties and cuff links" and sign up too. Most did, and the Assembly was dissolved until further notice...
Truce Talks. For the moment, Ben Bella's performance succeeded in distracting attention from the deeper problems of economic chaos, political dissension, and simmering rebellion in Kabylia, where guerrillas last week reportedly kidnaped government officials and whisked them into the hills. At the same time, the regime stepped up its anti-American campaign with the charge that U.S. pilots had airlifted Moroccan troops to the border. Despite U.S. official denials, the accusation seemed at least partially accurate. Four days before the fighting broke put, pilots of the U.S. Air Force training mission in Morocco ferried troops...