ALGERIA A HEX ? THINGS BEGAN GOING WRONG ALMOST FROM THE MOMENT 
GAMAL ABDEL NASSER SAILED INTO ALGIERS HARBOR TO BEGIN HIS STATE 
VISIT . THE DAY HE ARRIVED, AN ALGERIAN MINESWEEPER THAT HAD 
ESCORTED NASSER'S YACHT SANK WITH THE LOSS OF THREE CREWMEN . 
THEN A PALL WAS CAST OVER THE CELEBRATIONS BY THE DEATH 
OF ALGERIA'S FOREIGN MINISTER MOHAMMED KHEMISTI, WHO HAD BEEN SHOT BY 
A CRAZED ASSASSIN (SEE MILESTONES) . ON TOP OF ALL THAT, 
A MOST UNUSUAL TORNADO SWEPT ACROSS THE COUNTRY, KILLING TWELVE ALGERIANS 
IN ONE VILLAGE . MANY A SUPERSTITIOUS ALGERIAN PEASANT WAS CONVINCED 
THAT THE EGYPTIAN VISITOR HAD BROUGHT A HEX WITH HIM . 
BUT THERE WAS A MORE CONCRETE REASON FOR THE DISAPPOINTMENT NASSER 
TOOK WITH HIM LAST WEEK WHEN HE PULLED UP ANCHOR AND 
SAILED AWAY THREE DAYS EARLIER THAN PLANNED . FROM HOST AHMED 
BEN BELLA, ALGERIA'S YOUNG PREMIER, NASSER HAD GOTTEN HEARTY CORDIALITY AND 
WORDS OF ACCLAIM, BUT NO REAL PROMISE TO BRING ALGERIA INTO 
NASSER'S SCHEME FOR A UNITED ARAB REPUBLICSCIPLE . AS THE ONLY 
TWO SOCIALIST RULERS IN THE ARAZ WORLD, THEY HAD MUCH IN 
COMMON . AND BEN BELLA WAS DULY GRATEFUL TO NASSER FOR 
HIS AID IN THE LONG STRUGGLE AGAINST FRANCE . BUT AT 
THE CONFERENCE TABLE, NASSER FOUND BEN BELLA TO BE NO FAWNING 
DISCIPLE . COOL, TOUGH AND INDEPENDENT, THE ALGERIANS APPEARED MORE INTERESTED 
IN THEIR OWN REVOLUTION THAN IN MORE GRANDIOSE SCHEMES . TEN 
MONTHS AFTER INDEPENDENCE, ALGERIA'S 46-YEAR-OLD BACHELOR PREMIER IS BUSY CONSOLIDATING PERSONALIZED 
CONTROL OVER HIS RESTIVE LAND . LAST MONTH HE ELIMINATED HIS 
MOST DANGEROUS RIVAL, OLD REVOLUTIONARY COMRADE MOHAMMED KHIDER, BY FORCING HIM 
OUT AS SECRETARY-GENERAL OF ALGERIA'S RULING NATIONAL LIBERATION FRONT . BEN 
BELLA TOOK OVER THE PARTY POST HIMSELF . ALSO, BEN BELLA 
IS IMPLANTING HIS OWN BRAND OF " ARAB SOCIALISM . " 
HE HAS NATIONALIZED ONE-THIRD OF ALGERIA'S FARM LAND, MOST OF IT 
FRENCH-OWNED, AND HANDED IT TO " MANAGEMENT COMMITTEES " OF TURBANED 
PEASANTS . HIS REGIME HAS SEIZED SCORES OF CINEMAS, HOTELS AND 
RESTAURANTS FROM ALGERIANS WHO, IN BEN BELLA'S WORDS, " FATTENED THEMSELVES 
LIKE PASHAS " BY BUYING UP PROPERTY FROM FLEEING FRENCHMEN . 
UNSPOKEN ALLIANCE . BUT BEN BELLA'S BRAND OF SOCIALISM HAS DISTINCT 
LIMITS . ALGERIA'S CHIEF ALLIANCE IS A STRANGE, UNSPOKEN ONE, NOT 
WITH THE COMMUNISTS OR WITH ANY ARAB LAND . IT IS 
WITH FRANCE, ALGERIA'S ONETIME OVERLORD . AS IF TO MAKE CLEAR 
ITS CONTINUED ENDORSEMENT OF BEN BELLA, FRANCE RECENTLY AGREED TO SPEED 
UP PAYMENT OF ITS SUBSIDIES TO ALGERIA, BUDGETED FOR $210 MILLION 
THIS YEAR, WHICH COMPRISE BEN BELLA'S CHIEF ECONOMIC SUPPORT . IN 
RETURN, ALGERIA PROMISES TO USE ONE-FIFTH OF THE TOTAL TO COMPENSATE 
EXPROPRIATED FRENCH LANDLORDS . 