ALGERTANS PLEASED WITH SOVIET TRIP
The large delegation which the Ben Bella government sent to the Soviet Union under the leadership of Hadj Ben Alla to work out details in applying the $100,000,000 loan negotiated October 4 by Col, Houari Boumedienne, left Moscow December 28 after a week in the limelight as featured guests.
The trip to Moscow was said to have coincided with Chou #n~-lai'ts week in Algeria by “pure accident." Khrushchev, however, did not hesitate to try to turn the coincidence to advantage;3, and statements which he made during the visit of the Algerians competed with those made by Chou En-lai in Algiers in gaining headlines in the world press.
The Algerians, however, succeeded rather adroitly in their aim of
remaining "neutral" and not becoming involved in the conflict between Moscow and Peking. Ina brief address in the presence of Khrushchev, -- Mohammed Lebjaoui, one of the top leaders of the delegation, brought” out the Algerian viewpoint in the following way:
“We have not become Communists; but we can testify to the profoundly _ sincere and completely disinterested nature of Soviet-Algerian friendship," The main aim of the mission, he said, was "to reinforce the links of friend~ ship between the two countries” and the results achieved have been "hositive to the highest degree,”
Then coming to the immediate aim in mind, Lebjaoui continued: "Let there be no attempt by the representatives of imperialism and neocolonial-~ | ism to embroil us with the Soviet Union, They will break their teeth, And don't let them try to convert us into enemies of China and Mao Tse~tung of Yugoslavia and Tito, of Cuba and Fidel Castro. If they do, they wilt likewise surely break their teeth,"
‘With the evident aim of offering sometning sweet to make up for the , need to refer to Mao Tse-tung in this context, Leb jaoui worked in a favore able remark about "peaceful coexistence," which, as is well known, is a favorite topic with Khrushchev,
"Our socialist orientation," said Lebjaoui, "does not prevent us in any way from advocating peaceful coexistence with other peoples, in parti~ cular with the French people, insofar as the Algerian people are soveréign. We support and practice the policy of co-operation with the French govern ment, holding that this policy is useful to the two peoples,"
LAUNCH