TUNISIA EXPROPRIATES FRENCH-HELD LAND >
The decision May 11 of the National Assembly of Tunis to take over all foreign-held land was profoundly shocking to.the French government. Among revolutionists, however, the act was greeted with pleasure everywhere,
The Habib Bourguiba government has displayed considerable servility toward French imperialism since it came to power in 1956, In fact Bourguiba himself became a virtual symbol of neocolonialism in the Maghreb [Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia] and elsewhere in Afrioa. That he should suddenly decide to take. over lands that are mainly held by French owners, is the strongest possible evidence of the power of the revolutionary Algerian example and the effect it is having auttong, ‘the ‘masses of other countriss in Africa, .
More than 3500, 000 hectares are involved [one hectare =2. a7 acres |; about 273, 000 hectares belonging to French colons and some 50,000 hectares held by Italian and Maltese owners, 7
The immediate reaction of the de Gaulle government, which is highly sensitive in matters involving private property, was to out off economic assistance to Tunisia, In announcing this reprisal on May le, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs placed the blame on the Tunisian government, which, it claimed, had acted unilaterally in taking over the land.
“The economic assistance included a long-term loan for 1964 amounting to 100,000,000 francs [$20,000,000].
The Tunisian government took no counter reprisals but announced that it would seek to float a domestic loan to. cover the amount. involved, woo,
Part of the anger of the French government is due to the fact that while the Tunisian government stated that it admitted in principle that the owners should be compensated, the finances of the Tunisian government would not permit this for a long time.
On May 14, Bourguiba went ahead and "recuperated" 102,101 hectares of land occupied by French owners,
In a front-page article May 15, under the headline, "Paris. Holds that the Expropriation of the French. Colons is Contrary to the Spirit of Co-operation," Le Monde, France's leading bourgeois daily said:
"Tt is quite likely that the firmness of the French reaction was also inspired by the desire to give it a certain meaning as an | example and thus to warn other African governments which might be tempted by the Tunisian precedent, Already in Morocco, where labori-~ ous negotiations are being conducted on the recuperation of some 50,000 hectares of land, voices have been raised -- in the opposition of course ~- to incite the Chérifien.palace to.take the same road as Tunisia,
- "Paris is convinced that the decision taken by Mr. Bourguiba was inspired by domestic and foreign political reasons, since no other motive, it is said, could justify the haste manifested in Tunis..."
“NEW GUERRILLA FRONT IN THE CONGO
BRUSSELS -- Dispatches: from the Congo report that a new