18. Memorandum From the Executive Secretary (Eliot) to the President’s Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger)1 2

Subject:

  • President Boumediene’s Reorientation of Algerian Foreign Policy: Implications for the United States.

Enclosed, for your information, is a copy of a memorandum dated October 24 concerning Algerian foreign policy.

Theodore L. Eliot
Executive Secretary

Enclosure:

Memorandum Prepared in the Department of State

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SUBJECT:

  • Boumediene’s Reorientation of Algerian Foreign Policy: Implications for the United States

Algerian President Houari Boumediene made an important foreign policy address on October 21 at a conference of Algerian chiefs of mission, His diplomats were told that, with one exception, they would all soon be transferred to inaugurate a new foreign policy asserting the priority of internal over external affairs. Algeria would shun the example of those “progressive” regimes that had played a “vanguard” role on the international scene only to collapse for internal reasons.

Algeria’s foreign policy priorities would henceforth be in this order: “material, political, and ideological”. The main emphasis would be on setting Algeria’s economic and financial house in order, and the performance of ambassadors’ would be rated accordingly.

Boumediene said that Algerian foreign policy would also be based on a number of key principles: (1) independence of all foreign powers, whatever their position; (2) stability, peace and non-interference in the Maghreb; (3) mutual “cooperation” rather than “alms”; (4) an abhorrence of blocs, military bases, and special preserves; (5) in the Middle East an “escalation of armed struggle” by the Palestinians themselves - which he stated somewhat defensively was not an “extremist” position but simply an extension of Algeria’s own independence creed; and (6) continued support to Vietnam and the African liberation movements.

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What stands out in this speech is the emphasis on Boumediene’s personal philosophy of concentration on internal goals. The theme had figured in earlier Bournediene speeches but had never been fully woven into Algerian foreign policy. Until the past year Boumediene’s attention had been preoccupied with internal problems. With these now in hand, he is free to turn more to foreign affairs and to lean more in that field on his own ideas.

This is an attractive refrain, since the assertion of economic interests can be used to justify a bettering of relations with the U.S. In any event, the downgrading of political and ideological concerns may signal the emergence of a more pragmatic, technocratically-oriented Algeria.

Nowhere in the October 21 speech was the U.S. attacked. The old self-image of a beleaguered socialist Algeria “surrounded” by hostile pro-Western states appears to have disappeared. Even the sharper passages in the speech relating to the Middle East seemed designed mainly to demonstrate that Algeria had not renounced its revolutionary heritage.

But it was probably too much to expect that Algeria would completely forsake its old ways. On October 22, Boumediene—perhaps reacting to criticisms of his previous mildness—corrected the record on the U.S. with respect both to Vietnam and the Middle East. He explained that Algeria’s criticism of the U.S. had nothing to do with purely national interests but was directed to the international role of the U.S., which he described as “hostile” to just causes. In private, the Algerians now tend to tone down this kind of language, but not yet, it appears, for general consumption.

  1. Source: National Archives, Nixon Presidential Materials, NSC Files, Box 735, Country Files, Africa, Algeria, Vol. I. Secret.
  2. Eliot forwarded an October 24 memorandum that outlined the implications of President Boumediene’s reorientation of Algerian foreign policy on the United States. The memorandum highlighted the positive impact of Boumediene’s emphasis toward getting Algeria’s economic and financial situation in order.