Tuesday, Oct. 29, 1963
University Daily Kansan
Page 7
Long War Seen If Allies Join Sahara Battle
By Phil Newsom
UPI Foreign News Analyst
UPI Foreign News Analyst
In Rabat, a UPI correspondent just back from the scene of the desert fighting along the Algerian-Moroccan Frontier, sat down at his typewriter and endeavored to sort out his impressions.
“... like something out of Beau Geste.” wrote UPI man Carlos Mendo.
"In Hassi Beida, I counted eight date palm trees. No town. No vegetation except for those pitiful palms
clustered around one well. . ."
Indeed, it scarcely seemed worth a man's life.
BUT AROUND the small Hassa Beida oasis men were dying, even as leaders of both Africa and the Arab world maneuvered for peace.
There were compelling reasons for settling the quarrel quickly. But there also were reasons why peace would not come easily and why, if it did come, it might prove as illusory as Arab or African unity.
A compelling reason for peace was fear that, if continued for long, the fighting could not be confined to a single border.
In Paris, with intimate knowledge of both, there was a belief that militarily the Moroccans were better trained and equipped for this kind of fighting and would win out over Algeria.
to save Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella from disaster.
BUT THERE was also the belief that United Arab Republic President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the Communist bloc would intervene
Eventually, such a war would engulf the whole of North Africa.
There were plenty of would-be peace-makers, including virtually every head of every state bordering on the Sahara. The belligerents also spoke of a desire for peace but continued military maneuvers to negotiate from positions of strength.
But these were moves viewed from the short term.
IN THE LONGER view, Ben Bella
of Algeria and King Hassan of Morocco had become the personifications of a struggle convulsing both the Arab and the African worlds.
Ben Bella is a dedicated socialist, an admirer both of Nasser and Fidel Castro of Cuba.
And Moroccans ask Western reporters:
"Have you forgotten Cuba?"
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