France: The Duelists

The resort town of Evian-les-Bains, on the French side of the Lake of Geneva, seemed to be rushing the season last week. Colored lights were strung from public buildings, and some 13,000 tulips, pansies and violets were hastily planted in the town’s public gardens. The gala preparations were meant not for sun-loving tourists, but for two delegations—one French, the other from the Algerian rebels—that are gathering in Evian in the hope of hammering out a peaceful settlement of the six-year-old Algerian war.

Negotiations will be held in the cream-colored Hotel du Pare, which was chosen mainly because its grounds can be easily closed off by the 1,000 French security police assigned to protect the delegations. The hotel faces the excursion dock in case the F.L.N. representatives—who refused to be quartered on French soil—wish to commute by boat from their Swiss hotels across the lake.

Leading the French delegation will be Louis Joxe, 59, De Gaulle’s Minister for Algerian Affairs. An ex-teacher and journalist, Joxe is a sophisticated intellectual with an instinctive flair for politics. “All in all,” says a friend, “a cool sort of fellow.” At the head of the F.L.N. team will probably be stubborn, soft-spoken Ahmed Francis, 49, who has spent the past four years as the F.L.N.’s chief fund raiser and accountant. A World War II French army medical officer and former Deputy in the French Assembly, Francis is a close personal friend of rebel “Premier” Ferhat Abbas, and a member of the F.L.N.’s moderate faction.

Obviously fearful that the Evian talks might sap the ardor of F.L.N. combat forces, Abbas last week broadcast a warning to Moslems in Algeria: “Negotiation is not peace. Everyone must realize that the colonialist forces have not disarmed, and that negotiations may be long and difficult.” How long and difficult they might prove was suggested by Louis Joxe’s rental of a hillside chalet outside Evian. He signed a lease for a month—with an option to renew indefinitely.