Word: mende
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...Mendès' plan for Tunisia (which, if successful, he may try to adapt for Algeria and Morocco) emerged from ten days of intensive conferences. Mendès used his favorite method of conversations à deux-knocking heads together. This time he set up two-man meetings between French officials and Arab representatives of the Neo-Destour (or Tunisian Nationalist) Party. His most useful collaborator was the Arab's No. 1 nationalist, the ascetic-looking, white-haired Habib Bourguiba, 51, exiled leader of the Neo-Destour. In an adroit move Mendès transferred Bourguiba from lonely sequestration...
This was still exile, but in his villa (guarded by blue-clad troops) Bourguiba was comfortable and could speak freely. He showed no hostility toward France. "Mendès-France represents the last chance for Franco-Tunisian friendship," Bourguiba said. "If Mendès-France fails, after him all will be finished...
Counterthreat. Mendès got Bourguiba's endorsement of his plan. Then, in a bitter five-hour fight, Mendès pushed his Tunisia plan through to cabinet approval. Two Gaullist members-Defense Minister Pierre Koenig and Minister for Tunisian and Moroccan Affairs Christian Fouchet -feared a "sellout" and threatened to resign. "If you resign," snapped Mendès, "I resign." That counterthreat brought the dissidents into line...
...road ahead may still be rough. Mendès needs approval by the Assembly, and by the Tunisians. The toughest opposition, however, may come from the colons, who think that giving an inch to native aspirations is dangerous, and from French functionaries in the protectorate-collectively a powerful group-for whom a Tunisian government would mean loss of jobs. To placate the colons, Mendès last week removed Resident General Pierre Voizard, whom the settlers regard as too soft, and appointed a new Resident, hard-bitten Lieutenant General Boyer de la Tour du Moulin, commander of French forces...
Last week, in-a-hurry Mendès-France also...