De Gaulle To Visit Army In Algeria

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29145, 4 March 1960, Page 11

De Gaulle To Visit Army In Algeria

(Rec. 10 p.m.)

PARIS, March 3.

Close secrecy shrouds preparations for a visit by President de Gaulle to the French Army in Algeria, expected to start today.

The visit will be by plane and helicopter from one military command post to another in Algeria while the general talks with Army commanders and meets officers in the field.

Details of the general’s programme remain secret.

Usually well-informed sources said he would leave Paris this morning and stay in Algeria until Saturday night or Sunday. The essential purpose of the President’s trip is to sound out feeling in the Army after the settlers’ revolt in Algeria a month ago.

He will reassure the Army that self-determination is the only policy which can provide a satisfactory solution to the Moslem insurrection.

A directive, distributed through the Government headquarters in Algiers, recalled plans for elections through which Algeria’s nine million Moslems will choose their future regime. “The military command should keep out of political discussions and the planned elections and concentrate on military operations which will make the elections possible,” he ordered.

Algiers is strictly excluded from the itinerary, according to these sources, and the President’s aides confirmed that the aim of the trip is strictly military. According to an American Associated Press report from Algiers. President de Gaulle yesterday told French Army commanders in Algeria to stay out of politics and to concentrate on putting down the five-year-old nationalist rebellion.