The Bargainers

France and the Algerian rebel F.L.N. last week gingerly sidled toward the subject of peace.

In Tunis, the "provisional" F.L.N. government headed by Premier Ferhat Abbas made the first offer. Claiming that the massive Moslem boycott of De Gaulle's referendum in Algeria proved the "obvious authority" of the F.L.N., Ferhat Abbas announced that he was ready "to begin negotiations with the French government" for the long-awaited solution to the Algerian problem.

France's reply was oblique and guarded. Information Minister Louis Terrenoire wordily took note of "the expression of an apparently more favorable state of mind toward eventual peaceful contacts" between "the rebellion's exterior organization" and France. F.L.N. Information Minister M'hammed Yazid retorted hopefully that the communique "indicates an apparent willingness to accept negotiations. It is now up to the French government to put its statement into effect." The F.L.N. leadership offered another concession: instead of demanding the evacuation of the French army before Algeria held a plebiscite on its future, they asked only the removal of such "tough, repressive elements" as the paratroopers and the Foreign Legion.

As the bargainers haggled about the price of independence, tension lay over the land. At Baraki, a suburb of Algiers, four Europeans were killed and ten wounded in a fight with Moslems. In an ambush on a mountain road, F.L.N. rebels killed a French army chaplain, two soldiers and four nurses. The morale of Algeria's 1,000,000 Europeans sank lower. There were few purchasers for anything that could not be easily carried. Sales of autos were down as much as 90%. A tractor firm, which a year ago was selling ten machines daily, sold only eight in an entire month. Algiers' shopkeepers saw the abrupt end of a six-year business boom, grumbled that this month was "the worst January we've ever had." Apartments stand empty and houses are offered for sale at what realtors described as "almost ridiculously low prices." The European rightists are further dismayed by the inauguration of President John Kennedy, remembering that he spoke in the Senate for a free Algeria. To show their feelings, a bomb was planted outside the U.S. consulate in Algiers "in honor of President Kennedy."

In Paris next week a specially selected body of Moslem deputies, mayors and municipal councilors will meet to discuss the problems of the new Algeria. Though nominally friends of France, the Moslem officials have increasingly reflected the views of the F.L.N., and it would need only a hint for them to suggest that representatives of the F.L.N. take part in the meeting. As a face-saving device for France, Charles de Gaulle may be waiting for just such a demand to get the F.L.N. to the bargaining table.

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