A Hex?

Things began going wrong almost from the moment Gamal Abdel Nasser sailed into Algiers harbor to begin his state visit. The day he arrived, an Algerian minesweeper that had escorted Nasser's yacht sank with the loss of three crewmen. Then a pall was cast over the celebrations by the death of Algeria's Foreign Minister Mohammed Khemisti, who had been shot by a crazed assassin (see MILESTONES). On top of all that, a most unusual tornado swept across the country, killing twelve Algerians in one village. Many a superstitious Algerian peasant was convinced that the Egyptian visitor had brought a hex with him. But there was a more concrete reason for the disappointment Nasser took with him last week when he pulled up anchor and sailed away three days earlier than planned. From host Ahmed ben Bella, Algeria's young Premier, Nasser had gotten hearty cordiality and words of acclaim, but no real promise to bring Algeria into Nasser's scheme for a United Arab Republic. Cordial & Cool. As the only two socialist rulers in the Arab world, they had much in common. And Ben Bella was duly grateful to Nasser for his aid in the long struggle against France. But at the conference table. Nasser found Ben Bella to be no fawning disciple. Cool, tough and independent, the Algerians appeared more interested in their own revolution than in more grandiose schemes. Ten months after independence. Algeria's 46-year-old bachelor Premier is busy consolidating personalized control over his restive land. Last month he eliminated his most dangerous rival, Old Revolutionary Comrade Mohammed Khider, by forcing him out as secretary-general of Algeria's ruling National Liberation Front. Ben Bella took over the party post himself. Also. Ben Bella is implanting his own brand of "Arab socialism." He has nationalized one-third of Algeria's farm land, most of it French-owned, and handed it to "management committees" of turbaned peasants. His regime has seized scores of cinemas, hotels and restaurants from Algerians who, in Ben Bella's words, "fattened themselves like pashas" by buying up property from fleeing Frenchmen. Unspoken Alliance. But Ben Bella's brand of socialism has distinct limits. Algeria's chief alliance is a strange, unspoken one, not with the Communists or with any Arab land. It is with France, Algeria's onetime overlord. As if to make clear its continued endorsement of Ben Bella, France recently agreed to speed up payment of its subsidies to Algeria, budgeted for $210 million this year, which comprise Ben Bella's chief economic support. In return, Algeria promises to use one-fifth of the total to compensate expropriated French landlords.

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