It is 1 p.m. in Garden City, an elegant district of Cairo. Journalists are waiting in the FLN building on Mudiriet El Tahrir Street. Ferhat Abbas speaks alongside M’Hamed Yazid. This former reformist from Sétif had long advocated peaceful change. He now represents a revolution that has chosen armed struggle. He announces the creation of the Provisional Government of the Algerian Republic, known by its French initials, GPRA.
At the same time, the announcement is made in other North African cities. This timing is deliberate. It is more than a change in the FLN’s internal organisation. The Algerian liberation movement presents itself to the world as the representative of a future state. Algerian institutions regard this as a crucial step: the Revolution now has a government able to speak on behalf of the Algerian people. Paris can no longer cite the lack of an established negotiating partner.
Imprisoned leaders become ministers
To understand the composition of this government, we must return to 22 October 1956. On that day, the French authorities divert an aircraft carrying Hocine Aït Ahmed, Ahmed Ben Bella, Mohamed Boudiaf, Mohamed Khider and Mostefa Lacheraf from Morocco to Tunis. All five men are arrested. France believes it has decisively weakened the Revolution’s external leadership. But their arrest does not end their political role.
From prison, Hocine Aït Ahmed continues to reflect on the conduct of the war. Some of his writings circulate clandestinely. From 1957 onwards, he strongly advocates the creation of a provisional Algerian government in exile to represent the Algerian struggle on the international stage.
Two years after the aircraft was diverted, four of its passengers join the government. Ben Bella becomes vice-president. Aït Ahmed, Boudiaf and Khider become ministers of state. Rabah Bitat, imprisoned since 1955, is also appointed minister of state. They hold these positions while still in detention. The symbolism is powerful: leaders arrested by France receive offices in the future Algerian state.
The GPRA’s creation is not simply a response to these arrests. Years in the making, it builds on the organisation begun at the Soummam Congress and meets the needs of the diplomatic struggle. Yet the 1956 aircraft diversion gives it an additional purpose: preventing the colonial power from deciding who may represent Algeria.
Ferhat Abbas, president of the government
Ferhat Abbas is free. His selection as president rests on his political experience, his connections and his international standing. These qualities can reassure governments still hesitant to recognise an armed revolution.
He is surrounded by leaders of the revolutionary organisation, including Krim Belkacem, Lakhdar Bentobbal, Abdelhafid Boussouf, M’Hamed Yazid, Abdelhamid Mehri, Benyoucef Benkhedda and Ahmed Francis. The government thus brings together leaders of the armed struggle, men held in French prisons and diplomatic representatives.
The struggle continues on the diplomatic front
From its creation, the GPRA seeks recognition from foreign states. It also strengthens advocacy for the Algerian cause at the United Nations. Several countries quickly recognise it. China is the first non-Arab state to do so, immediately after its establishment is announced. By the eve of the ceasefire of 19 March 1962, 36 states will have recognised the GPRA.
The war continues. Electrified barriers block the borders. The death toll rises. Thousands of villages are emptied, and more than two million people are forcibly displaced into “regroupment camps”. But a major political change has taken place: those whom Paris calls “rebels” have formed the first government of the future state.
On 19 September 1958, Algeria is not yet independent. It nevertheless has a government that speaks in its name, a form of representation France had refused to recognise. This government is preparing to win a series of decisive diplomatic victories.
Translated edition. Read the original French article