from Gertrude Elias* Only two years ago Mohdi Ben Barka had been the guest of the Middle East . Committee of the Movement for Colonial Freedom, He came to London to ask our support for his struggle against reactionary forces which had staged the plot in Morocco in 1963, This was Morocco's “Reichstagsbrand"; it resulted in mass imprisonment of progressive leaders, 14 of wham were executed last March. Ben Barka was sentenced to death in absentia and had lived abroad since, Morocco's Minister of the Interior and Security Chief, General Oufkhir, pursued a policy of ruthless "pacification" of the progressive forces. Oufkhir had already made a name for himself as "the man who broke the Vietminh" during France's war in Indochina, Oufkhir is the model of a loyal servant of colonialism, and a sworn enemy of progress. On November lst, M, Ben Barka had. been kidnapped in Paris. A car stopped in front of a Cafe where he sat with friends, Two gentlemen went up to him, introduced themselves as French police and requested him to enter the car. He went without resistance, and tas not been seen since. According to Le Monde the gangster attack had been committed by professional gangsters hired in liaison with M. Oufkhir (Editorial notes it has since been established that certain French police were also implicated).....and who hides behind the Moroccan reactionaries is left to be guessed...eWithout doubt those who do not want the Conference of the Afro-Asian-Latin-Amevican people to take place, This has been arranged for the first week in January, 1966, in Havana, Cubase Mohdi Ben Barka was to have been the chairman of the conference and he had done a great f the preparatory works
The tri-continental conference of the representatives of the popular and liberation movements is to deal with many urgent problems of the antiimperialist struggles South Arabia, Palestine, Venezuela, South Africa, cultural problems and the struggle against imperialism and militarism are on the agenda, * editor of Free South Arabia, 8/29, Abercorn Place, London N.We 86