Editing Foreign relations of Algeria (section)

==== Algeria at the center of the competition between the Western and Eastern superpowers ====
Being a newly independent country from colonial rule of a Western power – France – and having waged a liberation war with a socialist orientation, Algeria was naturally inclined to turn towards the [[Soviet Union]] and its allies. However, the country's strategic advantages increased its importance to the eyes of the Western bloc. Primarily, [[France]] wanted to preserve its interests in the oil and gas exploitations in Algeria. As [[Charles de Gaulle]] stated to the Algerian finance minister in 1963, "If the Algerian government respects its commitments and takes into account our interests, it can count on our cooperation". Hence, French economic aid continued to flow in Algeria, to ensure control on the petroleum and gas industry as well as maintain  continued use of Algerian soil to run [[Nuclear weapons testing|atomic tests in the Saharan desert]]. Under [[Ahmed Ben Bella|Ben Bella]], diplomatic relations with France were normalized, the negotiations concerning oil and gas leading to an agreement in 1964. As to the [[United States]], they wanted to prevent Algeria from becoming yet another socialist country joining the ranks of the [[Eastern Bloc|Soviet bloc]]. Hence, along with minor military equipment, the United States provided Algeria with a food program (PL-480) which delivered free food to the population. However, the Algerian commitment to supporting anti-colonial movements in Africa went against American interests in  the continent, which led to an indirect conflict with the United States and an increasingly hostile relationship between the two countries.

During the war for independence, the [[National Liberation Army (Algeria)|ALN]] had already benefitted from equipment, training and advice from communist countries: the USSR (though its help was quite timid until the final months of the war), [[China]], [[Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|Yugoslavia]] and [[Czechoslovakia]]. Moreover, [[National Liberation Army (Algeria)|ALN]] delegations had visited China and [[North Vietnam]] to learn from their [[Guerrilla warfare|guerrilla]] strategies. Help and support from the communist bloc therefore increased after independence:

* Even though Algeria was not a communist regime, the [[Soviet Union]] invested massive amounts of money and material help in the country. For instance, in 1963, the USSR granted $200 million in import credits for Soviet machinery to help build the Algerian industry, and committed to building a petrochemical research institute. The Soviet Union also agreed to buy agricultural products and minerals that Algeria was struggling to export. It was finally the country's main military supplier, providing planes, tanks, armored vehicles, ships, light weapons and ammunition for a total of 11 billion dollars from 1962 to 1989.
* The other great communist power, [[China]], demonstrated its interest in Algeria as a fellow antiimperialist country. Hence, when [[Zhou Enlai]] visited Algeria in December 1963, he granted Algeria a low-interest loan of $100 million. Moreover, the Chinese were more aggressive in their support for armed groups fighting imperialist and neo-imperialist regimes in Africa. Algeria and China therefore cooperated on this matter, with China contributing to ANP training camps, and shipping weapons and revolutionary militants to Algeria.

The [[Sino-Soviet split]] strengthened the two communist countries' competition for Algeria. However, China was inferior economically and militarily to the USSR, and could not match the USSR's industrial equipment and sophisticated armaments. Moreover, as the autogestion model proved to be widely inefficient, Algeria started to move towards a more centralized and Soviet-style economy by the end of 1964.