751S.00/12–3054

The Consul at Algiers ( Dorros ) to the Department of State 1

limited official use
No. 95

Subject:

  • Current Political Situation.

Police activity inaugurated by the wholesale arrests of MTLD leaders and militants on December 22,2 continued over the Christmas weekend. Although there seems to have been no clear evidence of a new insurrectionary plot, numerous individuals were formally charged with endangering the security of the State. Meanwhile, the decline in terrorist activity persisted throughout Northern Algeria and the Aurès area. However, outlaw bands in various parts of the country are still stubbornly holding out against French pressure and several large-scale mopping-up operations were conducted by troops and police in Kabylie, in the Department of Oran near Rio Salado, and in the Department of Constantine near Bône with a view to capturing or disorganizing terrorist groups in those areas.

Although official figures are lacking, well over 200 persons are believed to have been taken into custody and questioned by the police in the three departments since December 22. Of those formally charged under Article 80 of the Penal Code, 52 were arrested in the Department of Constantine, 5, including the nephew of Messali Hadj,3 in the Department of Oran, and 32 in the Department of Algiers. Among those arrested since December 22 were three individuals: Mohamed Abdelaziz, Debouche and Ladjalii, who were allegedly designated to succeed one another, as the need arose at the head of the clandestine MTLD organization. Additional arrests made among the MTLD members of the Algiers municipal council brought the number of councillors arrested to nine; several were, however, subsequently released for lack of sufficient evidence.

Despite much discussion of the abortive “Christmas plot” in the French press and among the European public, there are no serious indications that a plot had in fact been discovered by the police or that its probable existence constituted the basis for the current series of arrests. As far as we can judge the arrests were made solely because the individuals involved were either leading members of the MTLD, or militants known to the police for their activity and therefore presumed by reason of their activity within the party to have known of the MTLD’s insurrectionary plans and organization.

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What makes this last police operation worthy of note, is the fact that it was not aimed at individuals who had participated in terrorist activities but was, rather, designed to disorganize and, if possible, decapitate the clandestine MTLD organization before it could conceive and set into motion a plan of coordinated anti-French activity. Because of its timing and scope, this move against the MTLD appears to have been intended not only as a preventive measure but also as a means of satisfying local French demands for all-out repressive action against “notorious agitators”. It remains to be seen whether this gesture of appeasement is merely a tactical move by the Administration, which has repeatedly pledged itself to avoid general repressive measures, or whether it constitutes a new departure in its counter-insurrectionary policy marked by increasing compliance with the demands of the local colons.

With few exceptions, local French reaction to this latest development can best be described as one of intense satisfaction and the conservative press has unanimously praised the Administration for its vigorous action to smash the “Christmas plot”. The encouragement derived by the colons from the Administration’s apparent acceptance of their views on internal security measures was demonstrated by the Federation of Mayors of the Department of Constantine which for the first time, on December 28, publicly demanded a severe and rapid repression, a strengthened police, the dissolution of the Algerian Communist Party and the banning of the Communist press. An interesting sidelight on Algerian politics was provided by Senator Borgeaud’s4 Depêche Quotidienne which grasped the opportunity to launch an oblique attack against Jacques Chevallier 5 by alleging that the arrested MTLD municipal councillors had planned their anti-French activities in the offices of the Algiers municipality.

According to informed observers, Moslem reaction, aside from the vigorous protests by MTLD public officials still at large and by the UDMA and its leader Ferhat Abbas, is one of increased uneasiness and tension. The number of arrests and the seemingly arbitrary nature of the action taken by the police against former MTLD militants and sympathizers is reported to have discouraged many who trusted the Administration’s promises that there would be no general repressive measures. Recent reports in the conservative press mentioning the coolness, or even stiffness, with which French officials touring critical areas are being received by the natives tend to confirm this information.

Although the situation may change if the French make some appropriate gesture to convince the Moslems that they are not to be left [Page 405] to the tender mercies of the colons, it is well to recall that the relative speed with which law and order have been restored throughout most of the country is largely attributable to the failure of the Moslem population to turn against the French or even to sympathize actively with the insurrectionaries.

Leon G. Dorros
  1. This despatch was also sent to Paris, Tunis, Rabat, Cairo, and Rome.
  2. Despatch 92 from Algiers, Dec. 23, reported on French raids in Algeria, resulting in the arrest of 142 MTLD members. Among those arrested had been three MTLD members of the Algiers municipal council and four former delegates to the Algerian Assembly. (751S.00/12–2354)
  3. Hadj was President of the MTLD.
  4. Henri Borgeaud was a member of the Radical Party and Senator from the Department of Algiers.
  5. Chevallier was a member of the Independent Republican Party, member of the National Assembly from the Department of Algiers, and Mayor of Algiers.