The Ben Bella government was among the first to sign the Moucow Test Ban Treaty. Algeria is especially sendtive to any further testing of nuclear weapons in view of France's programme of developing its own nuclear deterrent, Despite this the Ben Bella government sympathises with the Cuban attitude towards the Treaty and their refusal to sign it. In the October 10th issue of the Algerian daily paper Le Peuple their view was expr= eased in the following words:
",eeelt is....perfectly undorstandable that a country which is excluded from this coexistence, which is attacked almost daily by mercenaries and officially threatened on svery occasion, refuses to trust a treaty the spirit of which is completely ignored so far as it is concerned. This is the case with Cuba, The Cuban government is not against the Moscow Treaty in and of itsclf. On the contrary, it asks only that the improvement of internatio-— nal relations be concretised — Cuba wishes only to pursue her socialist experiment in peace, and asks, as is her right, that others respect her exist ence and coexist with her. Then only could Havana logically sign the tripartite treaty...."