U.S. Reported Ready to OK Arms Sales to Algeria

The Reagan Administration has decided to allow Algeria to purchase arms from the United States for the first time since that North African country’s independence 23 years ago, State Department and Algerian diplomatic sources said Monday.

The decision, consisting of a presidential determination declaring Algeria eligible, was made April 10, apparently in preparation for a four-day state visit by Algerian President Chadli Bendjedid that begins today.

A State Department spokesman, confirming the report, said any Algerian arms request would be considered by the Administration “on a case-by-case basis” and in a manner “consistent with the U.S. interest in peace and regional stability.”

This apparently was an allusion to the longstanding rivalry in North Africa between Algeria and Morocco, a close U.S. political and military ally. This rivalry has been complicated by the fact that Morocco has been fighting an Algerian-supported independence movement by guerrillas in the Western Sahara just to the south.

Algerian Ambassador Mohammed Sahnoun, who was informed of the U.S. decision by the State Department on Tuesday, said his country is interested in purchasing U.S. weapons to reduce its dependence on its longtime main arms supplier, the Soviet Union.

No Shopping List

Sahnoun said President Bendjedid is not coming to Washington with a shopping list, but he indicated that Algeria is generally interested in American military aircraft, electronic equipment and radar.

The United States earlier sold Algeria 17 C-130 transport planes and has just approved a $50,000 military training program for Algerian officers this fiscal year.

This is the first time, however, that it has declared the country eligible to obtain general defense equipment under the Foreign Military Sales Program, which provides foreign governments with credit and concessional interest rates, if needed, to help finance the purchases.

Algeria purchased the C-130s several years ago on a commercial basis that does not require a presidential ruling on whether it is considered a “friendly” country eligible for the Foreign Military Sales Program. It was not immediately clear whether the Algerians would in fact seek credits and concessional terms for any future purchases.

Bendjedid’s state visit here, the first by an Algerian leader, is the most visible illustration of that country’s progressive shift under his six-year-old leadership toward closer relations with the West in general and the United States in particular.

After nearly two decades of correct but hardly warm ties, Algeria and the United States began developing a closer relationship during the 1979-81 crisis over U.S. hostages seized by the Iranian government. The Algiers government played a central role in negotiating the release of the Americans held in the U.S. Embassy in Tehran.