France in Africa SIR.—I found Miss Epion's article on North
Africa very interesting, but. as a Frenchman who lived in North Africa from 1938 to 1944, I think certain points need more emphasis. In the first place there is no unified Arab movement"-lt is difficult to make any comparison between the Arabs of Morocco. Algeria and Tunis. Moroccans are a very proud race ; the conquest by Lyautcy was a hard one, but they usually fight openly. Algerian'. iii the coastal region (Algiers and Oran), are a mixture of races, and they tend to acquire all the vices of Europeans ; in the interior they are quiet, but at the same time they are fanatical and may change their minds quickly. Tunisians are nearer to the Middle East and especially to Egypt. Tunis is a rich country.
As for the Europeans, they are not mainly French as one might think. In Tunis there is a great number of Italians and quite an appreciable 3umber of Maltese. and in Algeria there are Italians and Maltese in the East and Spaniards in the West. Another point which Miss Epton does lot mention is the considerable American influence, particularly in %forme°, where their investments are very high. Their most powerful 3rg,an is the American broadcasting station in Tangiers.
One of the causes of the Arab movement has been without any doubt the defeat of France in 1940. although Habib Bourguiba and Messali Hadj were the promoters of some unrest before the war. After the French Armistice, German and Italian propaganda, to say nothing of British. was very strong and was followed by the Arab leaders, much more, as Miss Epton points out, than that of the Communists. And yet, in 1944. the Soviet Consulate General in Algiers employed a staff quite out of proportion with other foreign representation in North Africa.—
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