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- WORLD, Page 61World NotesALGERIABen Bella Unbound
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- After a decade in exile, former Algerian President Ahmed
- Ben Bella made a rousing return last week, calling on the
- government to resign and urging citizens to support Iraq's
- Saddam Hussein. "Telephone the Iraqis, send telegrams and tell
- them you are with them," he said in an hour-long speech in
- Algiers. "Go by the hundreds of thousands to the Iraqi embassy,
- and don't leave until they sign you up as volunteers."
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- One of the most charismatic leaders of the eight-year
- revolution against France, Ben Bella (known as Aminedi, or
- Invisible One) became Algeria's first President in 1963.
- Ineffective in office, he was overthrown in a 1965 coup and
- spent 14 years under house arrest. Ben Bella, 73, could have
- returned earlier but risked being arrested for terrorist attacks
- that the government said were carried out by activists loyal to
- his exile group. He also said he would like to form a new
- coalition to challenge the long-ruling National Liberation
- Front. "We have huge problems," he said. "I hope I can do
- something to restore our dreams."
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