From their point of view, I had gone too far. I had to disappear. That is to say, if the Algerian army had not overthrown me, others would have done so.

When Abdel Nasser brought Ben Bella to speak for the first time to an Egyptian audience he broke into tears because he could not speak standard Arabic. Ahmed Ben Bella (Arabic: أحمد بن بلّة‎‎; 25 December 1916 – 11 April 2012) was an Algerian soldier and revolutionary who was the first President of Algeria from 1963 to 1965. His arrest led to the resignation of Alain Savary opposed to Guy Mollet's policies.