ALGIERS REVOLT COLLAPSES

Press, Volume C, Issue 29498, 27 April 1961, Page 15

ALGIERS REVOLT COLLAPSES

Generals Flee As Troops Take City (N Z .- Rea ter—.Copvrtghtl (Rec. 10 p.m.) ALGIERS, April 26. The generals’ revolt in Algeria collapsed today. It lasted less than four days.

Troops loyal to President de Gaulle took over Algiers. The four generals who led the rebellion fled. The final scene of the rising occurred, like so many recent dramatic events in Algerian history, in the vast Forum in the heart of Algiers. A crowd of 50,000 Europeans gathered there as rumours spread through the city that loyalist forces were preparing to retake Algiers. In the Government building, the four generals listened with sullen despair as the bad news poured in.

Mobile gendarmes loyal to the President and supported by armoured cars were approaching the city. Oran and Constantine, once in insurgent hands, had surrendered to Government forces earlier in the day. General Challe and General Saian attempted one last gesture. They went to the Government building balcony overlooking the Forum. From this same balcony. General Challe on Monday told a cheering crowd of 100.000 that they would fight to the death to overthrow President de Gaulle and keep Algeria French. Now he looked down on the angry mob and tried to speak even as the first shots rang out from the clashes between paratroops and gendarmes. But the microphones were dead and his words were lost in the tumult of wild shouting that welled up from the forum. Generals Challe, Saian and Jouhaud left the Government building and climbed into trucks loaded with their paratroop followers. General Zeller left in a car. Broken Men All but General Challe were broken men General Challe laughed and smoked a pipe. To a reporter who asked if he planned to surrender. General Challe chuckled and said simply: “No.” Earlier in the day he sent a letter of surrender to Prudent de Gaulle in which he placed himself “at the disposal of the Government.” But he apparently changed hi. mind. The four generals, who drove off into the night, had been stricken from the Army rolls by President de Gaulle. A possible death sentence for treason hung over them. Several minutes later, flames could be seen through a window in the Government delegation building where, it appeared, officials were burning documents. At last the only person left in the Government delegation offices was Colonel Yves Godard, one of the leading rebels. He told journalists there: “The only thing left for me to do is to put a bullet in my head.” He later left the building. Battle In City Gendarmes then began to swarm through the city. The French news agency gave this running description of the battle: At 11 p.m., a body of gendarmes opposite the Aletti Hotel is held up by firing from windows in a nearby building. and three gen-

• darmes suffer bullet wounds. ; The gendarmes return the i fire and the shooting goes i on for 15 minutes. i At 11.30 p.m. squads of ■ gendarmes arrive near the i Central Post Office while the whole of the Rue d’lsly is I occupied by gendarmes who. , crouching behind trees, watch , the windows for snipers At the same time, a speaker at the rebel-occupied radio announces in a breathless : voice: “There has been trea- > son. Come to the Forum, all • of you.” This leads to a rush of , people on foot and by car through the streets leading i to the Forum. Several thou- , sand people cry “French i Algeria" in the dark opposite ; Government House. Suddenly the radio asks the . crowd to go home. In silence i the crowd begins to disperse. At 11.50 p.m., after a period I of silence, a girl's voice on the radio announces: “This is I the French Radio sipeaking,” . indicating that the Govern- [ ment is once again in control • of the radio station. I The radio repeats Genera! de Gaulle's orders to the Army about reducing the rebellion with the use of arms ' if necessary The gendarmes penetrate into the centre 1 For an hour past, lorryloads , of rebel paratroops have been leaving Algiers. In a building which housed members of a body known as . the Organisation of the • Secret Army, a number of ; people are arrested. By 2.15 a.m. today, the last shots were being fired. The , revolt had collapsed. In Paris. the tanks

remained in front of the National Assembly building and a strong guard was kept round the presidential Elysee Palace. But in the streets the atmosphere relaxed as people gathered in the cafes to discuss the sudden surge of events.

Volunteers being recru.ted at the Grand Palais to defend Paris if necessary sang the Marseillaise, and went home The end came after Paris had settled down to its third night of armed watchfulness against aerial invasion. Obstructions were again put out on airfield runways “nd the air over France was prohibited to aircraft. Officials Freed

Algiers Radio said the French Delegate-General in Algeria, Mr Jean Morin, who was arrested by the Army rebels at the start of the insurrection, and several other senior civil servants and officers, had been released. A group of loyai officers flew to In-Salah, in the Sahara desert, to free the French Minister of Transport. Mr Robert Buron. and the Algerian Army commander-fn-ebief. General Fernand Gambiez. who had been prisoners since Saturday. The Director of Information. Mr Jacques de Frejac announced that Mr Morin and General Cambiez would return to their duties in Algiers this morning. Early yesterday, the Mediterranean fleet sailed from Toulon. Ships at the base included the anti-aircraft cruiser Colbert, the air-craft-carriers. Arromanches and Lafayette, about a dozen fleet destroyers and 10 escort destroyers.

At the great naval base of Mers-el-Kebir. near Oran, in west Algeria, the first shots of the revolt were fired when a French warship fired warning shots to repulse rebel paratroops trying to move into the base. It was the beginning of the end. Government sources in Paris announced early today: “The ■ whole of Algeria is again under the control of the Government.” Death-roll of Seven At least seven persons are believed to have died in the revolt, although the exact number is not known. The seven are believed to have been killed in clashes between paratroops and troops loyal to the President when the insurgents staged their coup last Saturday. President de Gaulle issued orders to loyal troops in Algeria yesterday to shoot if necessary to restore Government control. But little fighting was

necessary. Throughout the day. Army units in Algeria rallied to his support. A stream of Air Force planes, including one flight of 18 transports, fled from insur-gent-threatened airfields and flew to France. Severe Challenge The rising, though more short-lived and far less bloody than the January, 1960, uprising, posed a far greater threat to France. In the January rising, a badly-organised group of settlers defied the Government for a week from a barricaded position in Algiers. This time, it was professional soldiers backed by armed might that challenged President de Gaulle. Immediately after the rebel paratroops' withdrawal, President de Gaulle held an emergency meeting with the Prime Minister, Mr Michel Debre, the Acting-Minister of the Interior, Mr Roger Frey, and the Minister for Algerian Affairs, Mr Louis Joxe. No communique was issued after the meeting, and President de Gaulle went to bed at 2 a.m. What action President de Gaulle would take now re-

mained to be seen, Associated Press said. Undoubtedly he would move swiftly to punish those who took part in the insurrection. He could also be expected to press ahead with efforts to negotiate an end to the six-and-a - half - year - old Moslem rebellion. It was the prospect of these negotiations that touched off the generals' revolt. Ship Stranded On Mudbank (N.Z.P. A.-Reuter—Copyright! BRISBANE, April 26. The Australian bulk sugar ship Merinda, 5500 tons, is stranded on a mudhank in Minchinbrook Passage, near Lucinda, north Queensland. The tug Lalor left Townsville last night to go to the Merinda’s assistance and should reach her soon after dawn. The Merinda was carrying about 6500 tons of sugar to Melbourne.