A sleepy spa on the French side of Lake Geneva, opposite Lausanne, Evian had been chosen carefully out of deference to F.L.N. susceptibilities, so that the Algerians should not feel themselves “prisoners in a golden cage” as they had within the confines of the prefecture at Melun the previous summer. In fact, if anything (it was indicative of trends) the Algerian delegates were accommodated in rather greater luxury than their French opposite numbers. Guests of the opulent Emir of Qatar at his charming and sumptuous Swiss chateau of Bois d’Avault, surrounded by lush meadows, the F.L.N. representatives were ferried each day across the lake to Evian by Swiss army helicopters.

XREF: Relates to the broader Evian Accords history and Franco-Algerian decolonization narrative.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1423