The diplomatic activity during the revolution had a fundamental and an important role in the internalization of the Algerian matter, destroying the legend of “Algeria is French”, and gaining back Algerian sovereignty. The active movements of the members of the National Liberation Front was a part of achieving the desired objective, and this is how the revolution was comprehensive in all its fronts, military, diplomatic and media.

One: The role of the external delegation at the beginning of the revolution

The revolutionary leadership paid great attention to the diplomatic action externally through participating in different international meetings and conferences and the attendance of the external delegation in those different conferences, whether it was in Africa, Asia or even in the United Nations Entity. Moreover, the Algerian revolution had a big support in the Arabic communities and some of the Asian and African countries thanks to the external diplomatic activity, and through this endorsement Algeria was able to to face the French colonial policy and keep working on the achievement of its ultimate goal which was the restoration of the Algerian sovereignty and independence. 

It is worth mentioning that the widespread international situation back then that was distinguished in the cold war took part of the diplomatic action, in addition to the solidarity and synergy between the third world countries and people who knew liberation movements from the yoke of the colonization and the charters of the United Nations aiming at eliminating the colonization.

The internalization of the Algerian matter was one of the main interests of the National Liberation Front  according to what was mentioned in the November 1st statement, where it started to be become clear from the first beginnings of the revolution through designating a diplomatic delegation based in Cairo and composed of Hocine Ait Ahmad, Mohammed Khider, Ahmad Ben Bella.

Furthermore, the first activities of the members of the external delegation of the liberation front were focused on achieving a main preoccupation which was to gain a recognition of the external delegation as the real and realistic bridge of the Algerian resistance on the Arabic, regional and International levels. 

The delegation was able to set up diplomatic action on the external level by gaining the support of the Arab countries like Egypt and Saudi Arabia. After the outbreak of the revolution, the delegation composed of: Mohammed Khider, Hocine Ait Ahmad and Ahmad ben Bella made it as a base for its diplomatic, military, and pacifist actions employing the potentials of the support gained by the Arab countries. Therefore, the external delegation of the National Liberation Front is considered as the first diplomatic tool of the great Algerian revolution. The external delegation’s work was found on all the fronts in various directions seeking to recruit the students’ organizations and human potential to back up its diplomatic movements and make the mission of the internalization of the Algerian matter successful.

Two: The objectives of the Algerian diplomacy during the revolution

The diplomatic movements of the revolution’s leaders aimed at:

–Eliminating the enemy from the diplomatic field.

–Gaining new associates internally and externally.

–Gaining material and moral aids.

–Constant pressure, and raid the colonization using the media exhaustion policy.

–Internalizing the Algerian matter.

–Transferring the internal Algerian struggle and adversity abroad to notify the international public opinion about the fierce actions that the French army was committing against Algerian people.

The Bandung conference 1955:

Arguably, the Afro-Asian conference held on April 17th 1955 in Bandung (Indonesia) was a starting and a major turning point in the Algerian people’s struggle, and the political role of the Liberation Front. Moreover, the Bandung conference was the first opportunity outside the Arab frame that the National Liberation Front exploited to promote and also convince the international public opinion that Algeria is not part of France and that its matter is the matter of its people who were deprived of their freedom and rights. Lastly, The conference’s outcome included the release of a statement of solidarity with the Algerian revolution in its war with the French colonization.

The Arab, Islamic, and international support for the Algerian matter resulted in winning the support of the Afro-Asian bloc through which the matter was exposed and discussed in the General Assembly of the United Nations. On July 24th 1855, the general secretary of the United Nations received a letter from 14 Afro-Asian countries in which they requested the inclusion of the Algerian affair in the agenda of the tenth session of the General Assembly based on the instructions of their governments. They also pointed out in their letter the importance of self-determination in the formation of the United Nations, and referred to the resolution number 637 about the right of self-determination and the exercise of fundamental freedoms which was approved by the majority of the general assembly. Thus, the General Assembly of the United Nations decided to register the Algerian matter in its tenth session agenda, after it was submitted to the political committee of the assembly in order to be examined and searched. Moreover, the Algerian diplomacy had a big influence in the transformation of the positions that the French administration was promoting about what they used to call “Fellaga” (the outlaws), and at the end it resorted to having a first secret meeting with Mohammed Yazid who was representing the Front in the United Nations in New York on January 21th 1956.

The Soummam congress and the reorganization of the diplomatic activity: 

The is no doubt that the military, political and even the diplomatic organizations that characterized the Liberation front and army started after the Soummam congress was held on August 20th 1956, on the understanding that the congress made radical changes on this level through the division imposed under which the six revolutionary cities included the so-called sides, zones, and sections. This is what gave an extra push to the revolution, where the missions were sequentially precisely defined on the political and the military level, or the intelligence and communicative aspect, as well as the supply, media, promotion and formation and so on. There was also the establishment of many structures in the front, including “the coordination and execution committee” (CEC).

Furthermore, Algerian diplomacy with the media on top, started playing a critical and fundamental role that consisted of the statements given by the representatives of the National Liberation Front and the press conferences held in different foreign capitals.

The representatives of the National Liberation Front abroad also used the media of the neighboring brotherly countries to highlight the breakthrough and introduce the Algerian revolution with its objectives and real dimensions. For this reason, the Front organized radio programs in Arabic entitled “Algeria’s voice”, that were broadcasted in the cities of Rabat, Tetouan and tanger in Maghreb Al-Aqsa, also in Tunisia and Cairo.

Moreover, the programs were still broadcasted even after the establishment of the secret radio of the revolution in the middle of Algeria in 1957. There were also the radios of the neighboring states that broadcasted the news of the Algerian revolution in many languages, and on top of the list was the secret radio of “Budapest” that used to air its programs entitled: “The voice of independence and freedom” . Those radio programs served the Algerian revolution well, and it was a good way to pass the diplomatic role to the leaders of the Algerian revolution.

Additionally, the National Liberation Front supported its media system by releasing the two newspapers “Al-mujahid” in 1956, and “The Algerian resistance” in 1955, which were the speakers of the National Liberation Front to defend the entire North African.

Besides, thanks to those cultural, media, and sensitization activities, the revolution was able to present an integrated picture for the international public opinion of the Algerian people’s legal struggle, and extended the heinous crimes of colonization and people’s right of self-determination.

Algerian diplomacy was also able to knock on Europe’s doors and the United Nations in New York, also to gain the enthusiasm of people and their conviction about the Algerian matter’s fairness.

The first diplomatic victory on the international level for the leadership of the National Liberation Front was probably the registration of the Algerian affair on the agenda of the tenth session of the General Assembly of the United Nations on September 20th 1957, and this event coincided with the merchants’ strike. This event also permitted Algeria’s voice to be heard and to take the matter out of the hands of the French who were always afraid that these kinds of critical issues would happen and be revealed to the world, where they were promoting to their allies that the Algerian affair is a French internal matter.

The diplomatic victories of the Algerian revolution against the French government:

The Algerian diplomacy achieved big victories against the French government, including:

1–The report sent by the senator John Kennedy who later on became the president of the United States of America, where Kennedy accused the French policy in front of the Congress of its intransigent colonial position and the policy established by the United States in this matter, which changed how things were going across the world especially in the western countries.

2–On November 23rd 1960, a memorandum was sent by the members of the Swedish parliament to the prime minister asking the government to intervene in the United Nations to stop the French assaults and find a pacific solution for the Algerian matter. 

3–The press conferences and media that were recruited by the Front for the international public opinion against the French war in Algeria, to give the numbers of the martyrs, prisoners, the burning of lands and concentration camps which gave real statistics to the colonial destruction, and a real insight of the military and genocidal operations in the cities and the mountainous regions that made the enemy unstable and worried, as well as the direct communications with the world’s capitals.

4–The establishment of the Algerian expeditions and delegations abroad whose missions included the expansion of the Front’s political actions by drawing the attention of the world and the constant communication with the diplomatic entities of the neighboring brotherly countries and the western ones, so as the centralist governments belonging to the states where there used to be a representative of the Algerian revolution.

5–The establishment of the interim government of the Algerian Revolution (IGAR) on September 26th 1958, which was one of the results of the Algerian diplomacy whose essential mission was to make the official voice of the main representative of Algerian people heard on the international level. Moreover, Farhat Abbas who was the ruler of the interim government back then, conducted many meetings and visits of the Algerian delegations abroad, including the visit to Bejin, Moscow, Belgrade, New Delhi and other capitals of the neighboring brotherly Arab countries. This nascent government had also had its first diplomatic work in the United Nations Entity, where it made the voice of millions of Algerians heard regarding the referendum suggested by General De Gaulle the president of the French Republic at that time on September 16th 1959.

6–The resolution made by the United Nations Entity on 19/12/1960 (during the eleventh session) which included the following:

First: “The General Assembly was aware of the two parties’ agreement about self-determination as a base to solve the Algerian matter, and agreed on this principle”.

Second: The General Assembly confirmed the absolute necessity to put the right actual garanties that ensured the application of the self-determination principle successfully and fairly, based on the recognition of the regional union and safety of Algeria”.

7–The diplomatic victory achieved at the federal castle in the Swiss city Berne, after the struggling Algeria joined the Geneva conventions on July 20th 1960, and it had major repercussions due to obtaining the Swiss government’s registration of the documents of the Algerian interim government joining the four Geneva conventions signed on August 12th 1949 about human rights. Furthermore, the accession to these conventions was considered as a major political, diplomatic and legal victory in the context of that era, and it seemed like it was not within the reach of any Liberation movement at that time. One of the fields that achieved a total victory - The number of the supporters of the struggling Algeria was increasing each time, when France’s position was regressing and becoming more critical even in front of its allies, which made them abandon France eventually. Moreover, the international isolation that France suffered from had a role in affecting the French policy that found itself obliged to reconsider its positions.