French Division To Move To Algeria

Press, Volume XCV, Issue 28314, 27 June 1957, Page 13

French Division To Move To Algeria

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9.50 p.m.) PARIS, June 25. The French Government has decided to move an Army division of 27,000 men from Tunisia to Algeria to stop the passage of insurgents and arms across the border, reliable sources said in Paris tonight. The decision will be notified to the Tunisian Prime Minister, Mr Mabib Bourguiba, who* is pressing for the withdrawal of French trc-ops, when the French Ambassador, Mr George Gorse, returns to Tunis tomorrow.

Government sources emphasised that France expected the Tunisian Government in return to take action to prevent border movements by the Algerian insurgents.

No decision about the withdrawal of the remaining French forces in Tunisia could be taken until a general agreement was reached between the two countries on outstanding military and financial questions.

It was reported from Tunis tonight that Tunisian National Guards today killed 50 insurgents who crossed the border from Algeria in the Matmata hills of Southern Tunisia.

The rest of the band of Algerians, numbering 200, were captured. The National Guards were commanded by a former outlaw leader who fought the French in the Tunisian mountains before Tunisia became independent, according to Reuters correspondent in Tunis.