The Left Hand Is the Dreamer

Almost by stealth, and angrily denying it meant to do so at all, the French government sought some way to end the 33-month-old war in Algeria, which ties down 400,000 French soldiers.

Though nothing immediately came of it, there were signs that the rebels too were ready to negotiate. The Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN) has shifted its headquarters from Nasser's propaganda-saturated Cairo to the relatively French-friendly atmosphere of Tunis, and also showed a willingness to accept the standing mediation offer of Tunisia's Premier Habib Bourguiba and Morocco's moderate Sultan Mohammed V. Quick to understand the significance of the FLN move, French Foreign Minister Christian Pineau dispatched young (31) Foreign Affairs Ministry Aide Jean-Yves Goeau-Brissonniere to a trade-union congress in Tunis, ostensibly to act as an "observer," actually to sound out FLN leaders.

The rebels were ready to talk. According to Paris, the young French diplomat met three rebel leaders: Mohammed Yazid, the FLN's representative at the U.N., Abane Ramdane, who reportedly runs the FLN military operation, and Dr. Lamine-Debaghine, FLN political leader. They reportedly assured Goeau-Brissonniere that they did not want the Algerian conflict to be "internationalized" (as may happen when the Algerian problem comes before the U.N. General Assembly in September), knowing that for years to come Algeria must live in some kind of economic and political relationship to France. Goeau-Brissonniere replied that the stumbling block was the rebel demand for complete independence. The FLN leaders thought it might be possible to find a mutually acceptable formula, such as "Algerian Nationality."

Mission to Paris. Before long, the talks progressed far beyond Goeau-Brisson niere's competence. He decided to fly back to Paris at once. The FLN leaders also wanted broader consultations, particularly with Leader Mohammed ben Bella, who is in Paris' Sante prison (see below). They took their problem to Premier Bourguiba, who suggested that he send Ben Bella's Tunisian friend and lawyer, Abdel Majid Chaker, to Paris to ask the jailed FLN leader: "What do you think of eventual negotiations with France?" Chaker would bring back an oral response, and the FLN could take it from there.

Unknown to each other, Observer Goeau-Brissonniere and Lawyer Chaker caught the same Air France plane. At Paris' Orly Airport the French diplomat was greeted with a message that his car was waiting for him. Chaker was stopped by a plainclothesman who flashed papers and said, "Follow me." Interrogated that night, Chaker was charged next morning with "threatening the foreign security of the state." Unaware that a representative of the Paris government had been secretly talking with the FLN, somebody in French intelligence had got wind of Chaker's mission to Ben Bella.

Deeds & Denials. As soon as the French realized their mistake, they apologized to Chaker, bound him to secrecy in the interest of furthering the negotiations. But Tunisian papers, angry at Chaker's arrest, broke the story; Paris' leftist press picked it up and soon all France was reading about the secret negotiations for peace.

The story caught 42-year-old Premier Bourges-Maunoury in the act of demanding that Parliament grant him special powers of arrest and detention to cope with rival Algerian terrorist gangs who are blackmailing the 300,000 Algerian workers in Continental France. Sample requests: the right to hold suspects for 21 instead of five days before trial or bail; the right of search at any time, day or night.* Taxed with the Goeau-Brissonniere mission, the embarrassed Premier snapped that it was all exaggerated: "I never met this person." But a government communique, issued by other hands, credited the Premier with responsibility for sending the diplomat to Tunis. (French Deputies were not eager to give Bourges increased police powers, but when Bourges put it to the National Assembly as a vote of confidence, they let him have it by a 280 to 183 vote so that they could rush off on scheduled holidays.)

"My Best Friends." France took the news that negotiations had commenced with its usual skepticism. But this time it was the reaction in government circles which gave a clue to future developments. Said Premier Bourges-Maunoury after he won his point: "I've always tried to maintain contact with Moslems. Some of my best friends are Moslems." Said bluff Algerian Minister Resident Robert Lacoste, whose tough handling of the Algerian situation has won the confidence of militant French colons: "If some of my colleagues favor inquiries, I agree with them. We must do everything ... to reach an honorable solution."

On the next try France might even let its right hand know what its left hand was dreaming up.

* At present, police may search only by day, as a result are careful students of sunrise tables.

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