Bourguiba's False Step:

...But coming to a head at the same time was an issue of even greater long-term importance: Tunisia's claim to a piece of the Sahara, which showed no signs of being recognized...

...The French position is that the Algerian provinces never held suzerainty over the desert...

...In the fall of that year, President Eisenhower, during his visit to Tunis, told Bourguiba that Bizerte was no longer of importance to NATO...

...Here the Africans part company with the FLN, although most of them have agreed to refrain from making any statements which might undermine the position of their Algerian brethren at the peace table...

...De Gaulle may promise to open negotiations with Tunisia at a later date, even though this would mean bowing a bit before a fait accompli...

...Lorna Hahn is the author of North Africa: Nationalism to Nationhood...

...De Gaulle, of course, is partially to blame...

...With the Berlin crises overshadowing all else in the West, a few voices suggested, de Gaulle would be under severe pressure to mend his North African fences in any way possible in order to concentrate on more important matters...

...When the latest note to this effect, sent July 6, netted no reply whatsoever, and the French began to enlarge an air strip at the base, the cry grew for unilateral action...

...He —or somebody close to him—could also have suspected that even some of his staunchest American admirers might begin to ask themselves whether some of the acclaim recently accorded him might perhaps have gone to his head, and convinced him that he would receive U.S...

...In addition, he may offer the Algerians a substantial slice of territory adjoining the other departments, and invite representatives of the other border states to a roundtable conference on the disposition of the remainder...

...Tunisia's southwestern border was fixed in 1901 when a commission composed of Frenchmen from Algeria and Tunisia set the Algerian frontier at Bir Roumane...

...Marker 233, placed at Garat el Hamel, was to constitute the southeastern border...

...But, the French argue that logically the Sahara should remain under their exclusive control, particularly since it is their investments which have begun to exploit its resources, and Paris alone should make arrangements for the border states to share in some of the profits...

...He also demanded that France accept the principle of complete evacuation of troops, begin the gradual removal of all forces save those at Bizerte, and settle the final status of the base within a year...

...But only one thing is certain: It will be a very long time before real peace or prosperity come to North Africa...

...support in almost any action...

...There Tunisian forces sent simultaneously to blockade the French naval base at Bizerte and to occupy a sliver of French-held Sahara were engaged in undeclared warfare with French troops...

...Therefore, an independent Algeria has no right whatsoever to them...

...Upstaging the scene at Lugrin, however, was the situation in Tunisia...

...For the FLN holds that although the southern territories were indeed administered separately from the northern ones, they were always treated generally as part of Algeria...

...The latter issue, in fact, had grown in complexity during the five-week recess, for several nations bordering the Sahara were now bidding openly for "prolongations" onto the wealthladen desert...

...Only after the discovery of oil in 1956, they state, did Paris, through a long series of measures, decide to give the Sahara a separate status...

...Bourguiba has long been considered one of the most intelligent, sophisticated and successful nationalists of modern times...

...When Tunisia received independence in 1956, it was understood that France would temporarily retain control over the base and negotiate its permanent status later...

...Part of the answer is the belief, growing in certain Tunisian as well as other African circles, that while Bourguibisme pays off to a point, extremism often pays better—especially in getting foreign troops to quit one's soil...

...Furthermore, his diplomats here had warned him, after talks with such officials as Assistant Secretary of State G. Mennen Williams, that even though Washington sympathized with Tunisia's position, it could not support Bourguiba in any provocative actions at this time...

...And while the blockade of Bizerte after Sakiet— when world opinion backed Tunisia —had produced no French military reprisals, surely he knew that, this time the French commanders, chafing anyway at Algerian developments, would reply with force and many innocent Tunisians would be hurt...

...Usually, Bourguiba does not heed such arguments, even though he can no more ignore completely the extremists around him than can de Gaulle...

...The Sahara question, however, will remain unsolved for a very long time...

...True, France established control over the Sahara while in the process of conquering Algeria, but the desert regions were always administered separately from Algeria's northern departments...

...The bellicose acts by the usually temperate President Habib Bourguiba have rightfully caused consternation in the West...

...Thus many people with whom Bourguiba must work— particularly officials in his Interior Department and men concerned with party organization—have observed that Morocco and Mali obtained American and French promises to evacuate their respective bases by threatening to use force...

...The Algerians were extremely perturbed that Bourguiba made his move against France, rather than waiting to make all arrangements with them...

...Tunisian Premier's sfaunchest friends question Bizerfe offensive and Sahara claims Bourguiba's False Step By Lorna Hahn The Algerian negotiations resumed at Lugrin July 20 in an atmosphere suggesting anything but peace...

...Therefore, the Algerians conclude, they should have title to the entire Sahara...

...Yet Tunisia, which had patiently tried to negotiate for restoration of her sovereignty over Bizerte and the withdrawal of the French, met with no response...

...On June 17, de Gaulle signed an agreement promising to remove all troops except those at Bizerte within a year, and to negotiate permanent arrangements for the base at a later date—which never came...

...The National Liberation Front (FLN), after a series of maneuvers which demonstrated its strength within Algeria, was cordial, but still showed no willingness to yield on such basic matters as French use of the naval base at Mers el Kebir or the status of the Sahara...

...Tunisia and the other Saharan border states are in basic agreement with this line of reasoning, though they would admit that Algeria should have certain areas lying beneath the northern departments...

...Five years of efforts to rectify the border problems have met with no results...

...Bourguiba then suggested to de Gaulle that the base be converted, with French assistance, into a naval yard with industrial installations...

...As things now stand, Bourguiba's recent actions have not only failed to solve Tunisia's two outstanding problems, they have complicated them and added headaches for himself, de Gaulle and everybody else concerned with North Africa...

...For even if he was afraid to open negotiations on either matter because of military unrest or his fear of setting precedents by evacuating Mers el Kehir or parcelling out the Sahara, he could at least have responded to the Tunisian notes and promised negotiations once the Algerian talks were near an end...

...For many years he had cause to resent being shunted aside by the West while the "positive neutralists" were being courted, but his statesmanship was recently acclaimed by the two world leaders he most admires: Charles de Gaulle, with whom he had paved the way for the Algerian peace talks, and President Kennedy, who had just accorded him a triumphant state visit and promises of large amounts of economic assistance...

...the future government of independent Algeria will settle all border claims with its neighbors...

...IF Bizerte alone had been involved, Bourguiba probably would not have permitted himself to be goaded into words and deeds which, for the moment at least, jeopardized the favorable reputation he has so painstakingly built up abroad...

...Thus, with France and the Algerians now deadlocked on the overall question of the Sahara, it seemed that it would be a very long time before Paris—or Algiers—would be able or willing to satisfy Tunisia's demands...

...Besides, they hold, many desert dwellers go north to work in Algeria's cities, consider themselves Algerians, and in some cases have enrolled in the FLN...

...In 1910, another mixed commission of Frenchmen, Tunisians and Turks (who then controlled Libya) traced the TunisianLibyan border by marching southward from Rit el Jir, and placing markers every six or nine miles...

...What, then, led this usually sage leader, at the peak of his career, to seek a solution to his difficulties with France through apparently rash, unquestionably provocative moves...

...While the other African states are willing to wait to press what are only vague claims at best, Bourguiba, with rights based on treaties, apparently felt that Tunisia had waited long enough...

...Following the bombing of Sakiet Sidi Youssef in February 1958, the Tunisians blockaded Bizerte and Bourguiba asked that the base be changed from an exclusively French to a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) establishment...

...On February 18, 1959, Bourguiba offered to concede Bizerte to France if it would end the Algerian war, but no answer came from Paris...

...To this the Africans reply with equal logic that since the Sahara is in Africa, it is African and should be disposed of by Africans, with France receiving some sort of benefits...

...When Tunisia became independent, France permitted it to establish control only as far south as Fort Saint, at marker 220, while continuing to occupy the territory between markers 220 and 233...

...There was no reason to hope that the French would voluntarily settle the Sahara issue in the near future, and ample reason to fear that the Algerians, if given control over that general region, would not yield the oil-rich land gracefully...

...Since both sides are embarrassed by it, the Bizerte crisis may be resolved fairly smoothly in the coming weeks: The United Nations could perhaps supervise a cease-fire and set a timetable for future negotiations of that problem...

...The attack on Bizerte, however, left them with little choice other than to declare solidarity with Tunisia, and put the ultimate settlement of the Sahara question into abeyance...