Who's on First?

If their Afro-Asian visitors were confused about Algeria's new government, the Algerians were left even deeper in the dark. The government-controlled press, radio and TV pointedly avoided any explanation of its aims. The regime's newly appointed spokesman, a suave former tourism minister named Si Slimane, even refused to identify the members of the ruling Revolutionary Council or say how many there were. Asked last week whether Houari Boumedienne was in fact the new Chief of State, Slimane snapped back: "That is a question which should not be asked!"

What soon became clear, though, was that Boumedienne and fellow conspirators did not depose President Ahmed ben Bella on ideological policy grounds, but to save their own jobs.

Though he could never have come to power without Boumedienne's unwavering support, Ben Bella in recent months had decided to get rid of the army men in his Cabinet. One reason may have been Ben Bella's anger at the army's point-blank refusal to send "liberation" troops to the Congo, Portuguese Guinea and Israel--as proposed by the President. In any event, the first officer to be ousted, he decided, would be Foreign Minister Abdel Aziz Bouteflika, a former F.L.N. commissar under Boumedienne and a close friend of the army commander. Then, after his hoped-for personal triumph at the Afro-Asian Conference, Ben Bella planned to fire Boumedienne as Defense Minister.

Capture at 3 a.m. The President's big mistake was to confide his plans to Colonel Tahar Zbiri, a protege of Ben Bella and--he thought--a personal foe of Boumedienne. Still aggrieved by a public bawling out by Ben Bella, Zbiri exposed the plot to Boumedienne, who then directed Zbiri, Minister of Economics Bachir Boumaza and Major Draia, commander of the national security units charged with protecting the President, to arrest Ben Bella. Though they captured him at 3 in the morning, Boumedienne's men took no chances of a rescue by Ben Bella partisans. They hustled their prisoner aboard a Russian-built torpedo boat, landed him at a small town west of the capital, drove to a nearby air base, then flew Ben Bella to the remote Saharan city of Tamanrasset, a favorite prison site since French colonial days.

Was Ben Bella still alive? Nasser's chief aide, Field Marshal Abdel Hakim Amer, flew from Cairo to ask Boumedienne if he could see his old pal and "be assured of his safety." "Believe me," replied Boumedienne, "we would grant this request if Ben Bella were not in a place far from Algiers. But we guarantee his safety." When Amer then suggested that Ben Bella be exiled to Egypt, promising that he would not be allowed to plot a comeback, Boumedienne refused.

Docile Cronies. Algerians at first were stunned by the suddenness of the coup. Then, as protesting slogans started sprouting in cities throughout the nation, the crowds mounted increasingly violent demonstrations. So as not to alarm foreign newsmen and Afro-Asian delegations, Boumedienne handled the rioters gently in the capital, though elsewhere his troops reportedly killed 30 or more. The crowds, led by Moscow-oriented Communist students, included Ben Bella supporters, emancipated women who fear that the deeply religious Boumedienne will bring back the traditional Moslem veil, as well as some industrial workers; on one occasion 100 uniformed police joined a protest march in Algiers.

Ben Bella's old cronies proved more docile. Only two Cabinet ministers followed him into prison; the others eagerly joined Boumedienne. One former exile, Abdul Hafid Boussouf, returned to take a post in the Defense Ministry, and ex-Premier Ferhat Abbas might act as figurehead Premier of the new government.

Treasured Army. Boumedienne's political leanings, say associates, are probably slightly to the right of Lenin-Peace-Prizewinner Ben Bella. He has already jailed several Communists who held Information Ministry posts, and the Communist newspaper Alger Republicain has not been printed since the coup. However, the Reds got their comeuppance because they supported Ben Bella. Far from being antiCommunist, Boumedienne has equipped his treasured 60,000-man army almost entirely with Soviet weapons.

At week's end, Algeria cut off all radio and phone communication with the outside world, presumably to prevent press coverage of civilian unrest. The new government had already protested that outsiders were misinterpreting the revolution. One junta-controlled Algiers newspaper complained that the foreign press of "the left, right and center" had ganged up to make Boumedienne's regime look like "a surrealist painting," That, from a government source, was a pretty good description.

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