Word: hadj
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...revolution must go on!" cried Strongman Ahmed ben Bella. Countered Colonel Mohand Ou el Hadj: "The time has come to give the right of speech to all revolutionaries." Thus the first revolt broke out last week against Ben Bella's year-old regime. To be sure, the motives included provincial pride, poverty and political ambition. But the root cause was Ben Bella's drive toward absolute power at the expense of his onetime, rebel comrades in Algeria's struggle for independence. Stronghold of the revolt was fabled Kabylia, a sweep of razor-spined mountains and deep gorges...
Among those won over to Aït Ahmed's movement was another disgruntled ex-rebel, Colonel Ou el Hadj, 52, the Kabylia army commander. A Berber and onetime jeweler, Ou el Hadj had served as wartime boss of Wilaya III, the Algerian guerrillas' savagely aggressive Kabylia military zone. Ou el Hadj had become furious with Ben Bella's army boss and No. 2 man, Colonel Houari Boumedienne, for purging the ex-guerrillas in favor of more obedient officers, many of whom spent the war in exile...
...which they had ringed round with machine guns. In Algeria's first popular demonstration against Ben Bella, 2,000 turbaned men and shawled women flocked into the town square, unintimidated by a government helicopter that fluttered past overhead. Sharing the platform, Aït Ahmed and Ou el Hadj proclaimed what began, at least, as a peaceful insurrection. Aït Ahmed called Ben Bella a "potentate," charged him with "betraying his comrades" and "destroying the revolution," added: "If the government wants to change its ways, we are ready to discuss things sincerely. If it refuses, we refuse...
...fellow ringleaders in the underground party. Government agents also had their eyes on Algiers' Communists, whose organization now was outlawed. Ben Bella hastened to add that he had not banned the Communist Party-or any other group-for ideology alone. "It is simply prohibited," explained Information Minister Hadj Hamou, "as will be any party other than the F.L.N...
...M.N.A is headed by bearded Messali Hadj, 63, who was 'once as fanatic as the F.L.N. zealots. But after years of house arrest in France, he now espouses "association" with the French, has lost nearly all influence in Algeria itself; now his support comes chiefly from Algerian workers in France. Angrily, the F.L.N. dismissed the M.N.A. as "colonialist lackeys" and declared that the Evian talks were off unless France "makes an official statement clarifying the meaning of M. Joxe's declaration...