THE BEN BARKA AFFAIR POSES A CASE FOR EXPERTS

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP75-00149R000100350051-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 9, 2016
• Document Release Date: February 1, 1999
• Sequence Number: 51
• Publication Date: April 17, 1966
• Content Type: NSPR

L\J:W YORK
HERALD, 7'RIBLJJVj
J
CPYRGHT
By James F. Clarity
CPYfRG19fi he Herald Tribune Staff
PARTS.
now almost six months o1 ,
has become a case that mfg t.
Inspector Maigret or Herculi i;l `
government or police.
The fictional detective
presumably, would be mor
at home with the bizarre de
puzzled and ponderous opera
to be.
For example:
i (Mehdi Ben Barka, exiled
,leader of the leftist opposi-
~ tion to Moroccan King Has.
,Ban II, was kidnaped at none
'outside of a famous Left
'Bank cafe on Oct. 29, and
presumably murdered in the
suburbs of Pers.
(President De Gaulle' has
accused Moroccan Interior' 2
'-
Minister M^_~r.r. ~c!rl L ()
l of first-hand participation
in the kidnapping. The
French gov-rnment Issued an
international arrest warrant
for Gen Oufkir. but T'
Hassan indignantly refused
to act on 1t:
(Only six arrests' have
been made. Two French
counterespionage agents, two
Paris plainclothes policemen,
a French Journalist and n'I
~S e for _ Experts
The late '1Jen Barka
APR 17 1966
QQ35Off0A b3b
or after it happened, but did 3
'nothing about it.
But what Is probably the
most Important aspect of the
case, and its ultimate resolu-
tion, is the effect it might,
have on Franco-Moroccan re-
lations.
ENVOYS RECALLED
France and Morocco re-.i
there has been no indication
that either government is con-
diplomatic relations.
shot Id be -prolonged to find ' debate. In the National As-
out how deeply the French
Polite are involved with ,the It t *11 will 1 early next. month, and
re h underworld. probably be a repeat
is aspect of the 'affair''. Performance of charges made
in the "_'"-`
aa- ., r9 tne.~de C3auile government's
rested and admitted having'(' a Police Department pro-
' role In the matter
participated in th
uce a w
k
it
.
y
e .
a
idpaing j
ress who said
. most of those
'~..
directly or indirectly. All de- } he w one of the policemen I-furor~ovg ch the t t Of the, involved.
n ed any knowlerf
of
ago
various
b
to M
Barka. Fr
r. en ase? at a dinner .party given
(The French police min-? hre years ago at the home:
` istry Of, Justice, Advocate t a criminal :who is Bought
General and Investigating or uestioning in, the case.
'magistrate still have given no he aisi there were other.
'Indication that they know
where Mr. Ben Barka is or . en police ther?,'too, but
whether he Is dead or alive. he ouldn'us' identify them
There have been no trial.affati lB?p0lteduled 1'or
any: ?> i
and there may, never be '
;The Paris ? Court of Appeals
will announce a week from,,
this Wednesday; whether the
in,.ee?i- ~' +?- nf,; 'thp, ?; 'case
,
pu
lications
ohkrged that the President's
Interior Minister,, Roger Frey
,
and the secretary general of"
his personal staff, Jacques
Foccart, botll~. knew of the'
;kidnaping either just"
before
I ribrwr?t1n~W i Ili
Approved For Release 2001/07/26 CIA-RD P75-0Q149R00000350051-a
Such a break would caused
serious trouble for both coun-
tries. Morocco . depends on
France, its former colonial,
protector tj keep it o^erating.;.
Frenchmen still control most
of the nation's industry and
farm m.:ch of ! ` 9 v
lad. French professional Vand'
technical P. most every department of the
government, which receives
about $50 million a year in aid
,from Paris.
To end all this would leave,
Moroc3, with a disastrously
weakened economy. It would
1falso leave President de Gaulle.'
possibly
with th
i
,
e
mage of a,
bully towards a small strug-
gling country.
Thus, there - are many ob-
serve, not all of them cynics,A
who believe the Ben Barka,
case, will die of old age, un-
solved,. and unlamented
-' b
`