Confidence Returning
JUDGING by the rather scanty reports filtering out from behind the security screen at Evian, the atmosphere of the talks between the French Government and the FLN is as good as can be expected. Both sides have confirmed their sup- port for the principle of self-determination, and even the vexed problem of the Sahara has not so far produced, any violent reaction from M. Krim Belkacem and his colleagues. The only shadow over the conference so far has been the unneces- sarily surly and ungracious FLN reaction to the French Government's announcement that it would stop offensive operations in Algeria, release 6,000 internees and relax the conditions of im- prisonment of M. Ben Bella and his followers. It is true that this announcement placed the Algerian leaders in a dilemma: they are afraid of their field forces dissolving under the influence of approaching peace. But they would have been wise not to put themselves so much in the wrong before world opinion. Still, a start has been made on a negotiation essential for the ending of a long and merciless war that has almost rotted the fabric of the French State. There will be many clashes at Evian; in particular, the Sahara question (whether or not that territory should be treated as part of independent Algeria or, as the French propose, should be administered jointly by France and the three North African powers) and the status of the Algerian French will be hard to settle. Yet it is possible to feel some con- fidence that, after these first sessions, nothing can be quite the same again, that it would be very difficult for either side to deny their fellow- countrymen the peace which both Algeria and France need so badly.
Previous page
