At the time of the seizure of the Athos, Ben Bella was on his way to Morocco to arrange the reception and distribution of its arms. Deeply chagrined by the news of the Soummam Conference and its decisions taken in his absence, he was intending to reject these (especially the primacy of the “interior” over the “exterior”), and to launch a political counter-offensive to re-establish his own personal pre-eminence. To this end he planned to fly from Morocco to Tunis, to convene there, on 22 or 23 October, his own “summit conference” of the three Maghreb powers. There they would discuss both the future conduct of the war and the furtherance of the peace initiatives then under way secretly with Mollet’s representatives. With both Tunisian and Moroccan leaders disposed towards a negotiated compromise peace at this time, there seemed a reasonable prospect of success for Ben Bella’s initiative.

XREF: Relates to the broader Soummam Conference/internal-exterior power struggle within the FLN, and its intersection with the French capture action.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 484