TUNISIA: Shopping for Arms

To be as loyal as he is to the West, complained Tunisia's peppery President Habib Bourguiba, is "beginning to verge on downright sentimentality." He was angered by French troops invading Tunisia in hot pursuit of Algerian rebels (some of whom, say the French, make hit-and-run raids into Algeria from Tunisia). Independent Tunisia, snapped Bourguiba, must have guns, "no matter what the price."

Last week Bourguiba's government accepted an offer of arms from Egypt's Nasser, even though Bourguiba himself has long resented Nasser's internal intriguing in French North Africa on behalf of Cairo-centered Arab nationalism. Within three days of taking Nasser's...

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