Crisis at the Top

...They will continue to do so as long as it appears feasible...

...Contrary to many newspaper accounts which describe Ahmed Ben Bella as the "strong man" of the present leadership, the former French Army sergeant actually is not very powerful, nor is he the real villain of the piece...

...Even if elections are held, there is a good chance they will result in an Assembly composed of individuals either seeking personal power themselves or afraid of it in others, who will concentrate on checking one another rather than on helping their countrymen...

...He began his FLN career as merely one of nine "historic chefs," and did not really achieve even the role of primus inter pares prior to his capture by the French six years ago...

...More determined than ever to crush the Provisional Government and clear the way for his accession to power, Boumedienne struck an agreement with the recently freed Khider, who evidently saw this as a chance to push himself into prominence after years of waiting in the wings...

...With his prestige and ambition thus grossly inflated, this man of very limited intelligence, charisma and vision became the willing if unknowing puppet of two far shrewder individuals: 37-year-old Colonel Houari Boumedienne and 50-year-old Mohammed Khider...

...For the moment, an uneasy truce exists in Algeria between the various factions vying for power, and election of a National Assembly has been tentatively scheduled for September 20...

...But whether he-or any other Algerian still worthy of the term "leader"-would have the stomach for the in-fighting and the outpushing is another question...

...The lessons which most impressed him -and which he in turn passed on to his subordinates-were those of Mao Tse-tung and Vo Nguyen Giap, who taught that revolutionary warfare is the best means of effecting social change among a people, and that the "people's army" is the vanguard of the revolutionary effort...

...He is also thoroughly convinced that he should repeat Mao's example and guide postwar Algeria along the path to Socialism...

...In that event, a deadlock of some sort will occur between the "Bellists" and their opponents...

...Perhaps it is the most serious question that remains to be answered in Algeria today...

...Even such knowledgeable and often cynical observers as the Tunisians were confident that the Algerians would be able to maintain their collegiate system of leadership and shift fairly smoothly into their peace-time roles...

...Lorna Hahn, author of North Africa: Nationalism to Nationhood, is Professorial Lecturer in Political Science at American University...

...Working respectively as the military arm and the political mouthpiece of the popular facade, Ben Bella, these two men have virtually stymied all sincere efforts to reach a compromise with Ben Khedda, Belkacem Krim and others who wish to establish a truly representative regime in Algeria...

...Boumedienne, Chief of Staff until his removal by Premier Ben Khedda, is now Commander of the National Popular Army...

...They did not, in other words, suspect what has in fact happened: that a small clique of ambitious men would deliberately sabotage the team effort and the spirit of compromise to try to catapult themselves into positions of undisputed leadership of the Algerian revolution...

...BEHIND ALGERIA'S LEADERSHIP STRUGGLE Crisis at the Top By Lorna Hahn In accordance with the direst predictions of the French Right -but contrary to the expectations of the people who thought they knew best-the leaders of the Algerian revolution are now engaged in a sordid power struggle...

...Sensing Boumedienne's ambitions, Premier Ben Khedda relieved him from his post last June, making the political faux pas of permitting him to retain freedom of movement...

...But they constantly tried to provide for compromise and prevent friction by allotting posts to favorite sons in accordance with their strength back home, by establishing the principle of political control over the military while granting military leaders key positions in the Provisional Government, and by indoctrinating soldiers with political as well as military information...

...Backed by a large following in the Kabylia, and apparently able to command the allegiance of such urban forces as the labor and student groups, this highly intelligent young man would probably have the best chance of anyone to knit together the tattered fabric of Algerian politics, and to reach rapport with Tunisia and Morocco...

...They made sure, too, to obtain the prisoners' approval before signing the Evian accords...

...A freely elected Assembly, it is hoped, will be able to exert sufficient pressure to prevent the situation from deteriorating further...

...Ben Bella's fame grew ahead of that of his colleagues partially because of the propaganda efforts of his friends in Algeria and Cairo, and even more because of French newspaper accounts describing him first as a major catch, then as a sensible moderate with whom one could deal far more easily than with the "Leftist" Benyoussef Ben Khedda...

...That there are serious disagreements among the politicians originally based in Tunis, the "National Popular Army," the "guerrilla" army, the urban underground leaders and the five leaders who were held in prison by the French, is hardly surprising...

...While Boumedienne appears to be his own master, he is greatly impressed with the accomplishments of Peking...

...The pale, lean Boumedienne, who made his military debut several years ago in Oran, spent most of the Algerian war in Tunisia, reading rather than fighting...

...Realizing also that their imprisoned colleagues would be apt to criticize any agreements made by the men en scene, the men in Tunis were careful to check with them on every phase of the peace negotiations with France...

...But the elections already have been postponed so many times that there is some doubt they will be held before the "guerrilla" forces, notably those in the Kabylia region loyal to Belkacem Krim, forcibly try to block the "Ben Bellists' " drive to power and precipitate a genuine civil war...

...Public opinionbacked by the "guerrilla" armieswill demand the formation of a government headed by someone who has remained aloof from the happenings of recent months, but who can also boast a commendable revolutionary record...

...Khider, a veteran of Algerian nationalist politics and of the French Assembly, was a fellow prisoner of Ben Bella's...

...For Algeria's "man of the last chance" will probably be self-effacing, 36year-old Hussein Ait Ahmed, another of the nine "historic chefs," fellow prisoner of Ben Bella and brother-in-law of Khider...

...He was the only man to refuse a preferred seat on the Political Bureau, which replaced the Provisional Government, because he opposed the principle of personal power...

...Whatever the final outcome, it will seriously and perhaps permanently maim their new-born nation...

...The National Liberation Front (FLN) chiefs themselves were always well aware that the wide range of backgrounds and viewpoints represented in their councils encouraged divisive tendencies...

...Ironically, this could well prove the best "solution" to the crisis...