Algeria: Unwelcome Are the Peacemakers

Like a happy troupe of whirling dervishes they came, a mixed band of mediators shuttling tirelessly between Algeria and Morocco, hoping to end the nasty little North African border war.

Fresh from a state visit to King Hassan II in Rabat, Ethiopia’s Emperor Haile Selassie flew to Algeria aboard the imperial Boeing 720 jet. Wearing a British field marshal’s uniform, the Lion of Judah was warmly greeted by Socialist Strongman Ahmed ben Bella, who happened to be wearing his own favorite costume, Castro-type fatigues. Other envoys and messages descended on Morocco from the Arab League, the President of the Sudan, the Redeemer of Ghana, the President of Tunisia, and the feuding rulers of Egypt and Iraq.

Inconclusive Claims. Amidst the talk, shooting continued along the ill-defined border of the Western Sahara. Back and forth went the battle for two tiny desert wells that each side claimed as its own, Hassi Beida and Tinjoub. As the Algerian troops inched forward across the windswept, desolate battlefield, it appeared to one Bible-versed correspondent that men were “as trees walking.”* The Algerians had no radios; orders were simply shouted back and forth, echoing clearly across the valley to the Moroccans. “Hey, Mohammed, give them a blast with the 75 recoilless rifle. That’s right. No, a bit further to the left.” The Moroccans sent up tanks to the front lines, flew over U.S.-made T-6 jet trainers equipped with rockets, but foxholes and boulders gave the Algerians good protection. All week, both sides claimed success.

Just as inconclusive was the unrelenting propaganda barrage between Morocco’s King Hassan, a tough ex-playboy, and militant Socialist Ben Bella, which by last week blossomed into a full-scale ideological struggle, with Ben Bella backed by Egypt’s Nasser and a host of black African nations. Dramatizing its case against Morocco’s supposedly “feudal” and “imperialist” regime, Algeria broadcast a parody of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry’s The Little Prince, with Hassan in the title role and a supporting cast of Uncle Sam, King Farouk and David Ben-Gurion.

The Little King played it cool. Ben Bella, Hassan remarked, “should take great care. He is in the process of introducing into North Africa a virus from which God has so far protected us: lies, psychological warfare, and insults.” Face it, said Hassan to his foe: “Whether you like it or not, Morocco will have the regime it has chosen. Make the best of a bad deal and coexist with this monarchy that you abhor.”

Cozier Group. By week’s end the eager peacemakers were having trouble, too. Algeria demanded a full meeting of the 32-member Organization of African Unity, in which Ben Bella partisans have a majority. Instead, Haile Selassie offered to serve as chairman of a truce meeting in Tunis including Hassan, Ben Bella and one of the unlikeliest political fraternities ever gathered outside the U.N. cocktail lounge—Egypt’s Nasser, Tunisia’s Habib Bourguiba, Libya’s King Idriss, Mali’s Modibo Keita, and Guinea’s Sekou Toure.

That crowd was too big for Hassan, who proposed a cozier group to meet in Bamako, Mali, with President Keita, Emperor Haile Selassie and Ben Bella. Although Algeria finally agreed, neither side seemed particularly eager to settle the war, because the political benefits of patriotic fervor were considerable. Ben Bella was drafting all his unemployed into the army, and Hassan’s own domestic opposition faded, at least temporarily, while crowds cheered him and kissed his hands.

* Mark 8:24.