ee BELLA WINS BIG VICTORY IN KABYLIE
PARIS, Oct. 14 -- With the entry of government forces into Fort- National, Azazga and Ain-El-Hammam (formerly Michelet) without firing _ a shot, the armed rebellion against the Ben Bella government suffered. a ma jor defeat. Hocine Ait Ahmed and Mohand Ou El Hadj, heads of the so-called "Front of Socialist Forces" who withdrew into the hills, had lost the towns in which they might have set up a counter center to Algiers. They found themselves sealed up in the Kabylie mountains, their supply lines cut off from substantial foreign aid,
Clearly, the mass of the population in Algeria had rejected their appeal to take up arms, The main consequence of the inflammatory | declaration of war against the Ben Bella government, which the con= spirators had expected would start a nation-wide conflagration, was a set of burned fingers.
‘For us," said Ben Bella at a press conference October 12, “the Kabylie business is over,"
"The victory," he said, "belongs to the Algerian people and to, the Kabyle people who refused the arms that were offered to them by. the rebellion."
Asked what he intended to do about the chiefs of the attempted up~ rising, Ben Bella replied: “It is evident that Mr, Ait Ahmed and ~ Colonel Mohand Ou El Hadj will be arrested, tt
As to the prospects of their gaining fresh forces. ‘thr ough guerrilla tactics, Ben Bella quoted Mao Tse-tung's declaration that "the guerrilla should jive among the people as a fish does in water." He added: "These fish don?t have any water,"
The impressive government victory was due to a number of factors. : First of all, the government refused to respond to provocations and made no attempt to drown the attempted counterrevolution in blood. It relied mainly on political means to defeat the challenge to its authority. Ben Bella went at once to the people, appealing to them in giant mass meetings and over the radio for’support. The call went out for the formation of defense committees throughout the country.
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The pace of nationalizations was stepped up. Each day's issue of. the Algerian papers reported new takeovers on all sides, Many of these, like the bus system in Algiers, were due to the initiative of the worke ers themselves, who formed committees and asked for immediate nationalization.
Spokesmen of the revolution, headed by Ben Bella himself, next took to the field to explain what was happening. In towns and villages they talked about what the revolution had already achieved and how com= mitted the Ben Bélla government is to socialism. They admitted shortcomings and difficulties but they appealed for help and understanding in remedying them.
In Kabylie where the rebdellion.centered, appeals were. made. directly to the forces that might have been , baken in by the demagogic propaganda of the "Front of Socialist Forces. In direct talks with partisans of the FSF, government spokesmen asked them to "rectify" their "error" and support | the government.
Finally, when the political ground had been choroughly prepared, the government troops were sent in. However they, too, took a political approach, appealing for unity They were under orders not ‘to shoot even if fired on.
As they neared the stronghold of Ain-El-Hamman, the birthplace of Ait Ahmed, two government soldiers were wounded by long-range sniper: fire as’ the rebels withdrew. The troops displayed exemplary discipline and did not return the shots. Total government casualties in the twoday drive that succeeded in occupying the main Kabylie base held by’ the FSF were two. dead and three wounded.
From the attitude of the local population the government drew the conclusion that such a large number of troops as had been brought. into Ain-El-Hamman were not needed and, a day after entering, the majority were withdrawn. -