The Algerian rebels had been holding off any negotiations with France hoping to make a show of world backing in the U.N. Last year they had come within one vote of a two-thirds majority in the General Assembly, and at least one nationCastro's Cubahad indicated it would change its vote in Algeria's favor this year.
Shrewdly, the Afro-Asian bloc last fortnight submitted a bland resolution that did not mention independence or describe the rebel F.L.N. as a legitimate government. The French delegation, clinging steadily to its insistence that Algeria is part of France and hence none of the General Assembly's...