Plans to Look at California Agriculture and Computers : Algeria Leader to Seek Better Ties on U.S. Visit
President Chadli Bendjedid of Algeria will arrive in the United States on Tuesday for a weeklong visit that will include a meeting with President Reagan and an inspection tour of California’s agricultural and computer industries.
The official visit--the first ever by an Algerian president--underscores Algeria’s importance in Washington’s eyes as a bridge between the radicals and moderates in the Arab world. It also emphasizes Bendjedid’s desire to end two decades of U.S.-Algerian tension.
Algeria was once the most radical of Arab nations, but its tone has become increasingly more moderate and conciliatory under Bendjedid, 55, who assumed power as a little-known colonel in 1978 upon the death of Houari Boumedienne, a fiery spokesmen for Third World causes.
Bendjedid was instrumental in negotiating the release in 1981 of the American hostages held in Iran. His envoys have tried to narrow the differences between warring Iran and Iraq, between Syria and Jordan, and between the supporters and foes of Yasser Arafat in the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Unlike most Third World presidents, Bendjedid does not go to Washington seeking aid. Algeria’s oil-based economy is in good shape, although the government is trying to shift away from the Soviet-style economy of heavy industrialization that it inherited toward one that encourages more free enterprise and improved farming techniques.
Instead, Bendjedid is interested in diversifying his sources of military supplies--now largely from the Soviet Union--and trying to reduce superpower rivalries concerning North Africa.
Western diplomats said he is sure to ask Reagan to include the PLO in negotiations of any Mideast peace initiative and to pressure Morocco into talking directly with the Polisario, an Algeria-backed guerrilla group fighting Morocco for the Western Sahara territory.
He is scheduled to meet Reagan on Wednesday and to visit Los Angeles, San Francisco and Fresno on April 19-21.
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