ALGERIAN OFFICIAL APPEALS FOR MORE TECHNICIANS
PARIS, Feb. 22 -= An appeal by Ahmed Boumendjel for technicians to come to "Algeria to help repair the war damage and aid the country in building a new structure was prominently featured in France Observateur yesterday. Algeria's Minister of Reconstruction was in this city during the week in an effort to loosen the strings which the de Gaulle regime has tied on any aid it provides,
"Finances are available," said Boumendjel, "but there is a fearful absence of skilled forces and that is what counts most in the long run. If we don't get the technicians needed to start agreed-upon projects, then the French government can say next year that the financial aid must be reduced... .
"In 1961,” he pointed out, "there were 250 public works engineers. Between March 19 and July 1, 1962, the decrees of the French government, in connection with its policy of withdrawal, caused 170 of them to leave. Inasmuch as they were guaranteed jobs in France, often well paid, they figured it would pay off te go back. Of the eighty remaining engineers, one third have already said they won't renew their one~year contracts which expire next July 1. But I need a minimum of 120 public-works engineers and 200 technicians or administrators for construction works. .. «
"The solution is difficult. First, the results of foreign aid are not too brilliant. Obviously, because of language and methods, co-operation is easier with French technicians. But the problem is, how to get them to come. . . It happens to be a fact that in the French administration -- at least in the intermediate levels if not at the top -- nothing is done to speed things up. There are nany cases of applications made last October and November which have not yet received a reply."
Boumendjel appealed especially to associations of technicians particularly those of the left "not because we want to use a politieal criterion but because I still think that the French left is more receptive to the idea of helping the New Algeria. Co-operation must not be a nice-sounding word in official speeches; it must find a human content, otherwise it has no meaning... "