Early

Frost

The Algerian war has lasted more than five years, and it was not to be settled in anything like five days.

Meeting in Melun, 30 miles southeast of Paris, the F.L.N.'s Ahmed Boumendjel spent five days in talks with Roger Moris, De Gaulle's Secretary of State for Algeria. The exchanges were so frosty that the Algerians complained of "a Panmunjom atmosphere." Boumendjel asked whether F.L.N. "Premier" Ferhat Abbas, if he came to Paris, would be free to move about, whether he could be sure of treating with President de Gaulle personally, whether F.L.N. negotiators could confer with Ben Bella, the F.L.N. leader whom the French kidnaped four years ago on a flight between Morocco and Tunisia. Moris relayed each question to Premier Michel Debre, who in turn relayed it to De Gaulle. The answers: De Gaulle would certainly not see Ferhat Abbas until a cease-fire had been signed. No contact with Ben Bella would be permitted. As for Ferhat Abbas' freedom of movement, it would be the same as that enjoyed by Boumendjel at Melun--i.e., he would have no chance to see the press or anyone but French officials. At week's end Boumendjel flew back to Tunis. "What France wanted was capitulation talks," snorted one of his superiors in Tunis.

In taking a tough opening stand, De Gaulle was not only sizing up the rebels but also looking to the nuances of opinion in the forces behind him. General Paul Ely, Gaullist head of France's Joint Chiefs of Staff, is known to believe that negotiations should be long in order that the army can be persuaded to go along with the government at every step. Former Chief of General Staff General Georges Revers last week issued a statement, in the name of a veterans group called "The Army Organization of the Resistance," warning against "abandonment" of Algeria and political negotiations with the rebels. Yet De Gaulle's Delegate-General for Algeria, Paul Delouvrier, obviously preparing Algerian European settlers for other possibilities, broadcast last week that "it would be a mistake to think . . . the discussions will be solely military. The very fact that the combatants are installed on the territory of other countries [Tunisia and Morocco] leads to the presumption that things will go beyond the simply military stage."

As rebel leaders met to discuss the second round, there was talk in Tunis that the Algerians might send a ministerial delegation to Paris, but Premier Abbas might not be in it. "This is a lull, not a break," said an Algerian rebel at week's end.

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