Because of their basic mistrust there were a number of principles on which the F.L.N. negotiators could never yield. Chief among these was their intransigent refusal to permit any cease-fire in advance of a full political settlement. Against this, from Mendès-France onwards, successive French governments had insisted on a cease-fire first. This had been the impassable stumbling-block. The F.L.N.'s motivation here was basically quite simple; once the military revolt in the "interior" was stood down, if for whatever reason the emergent solution proved unacceptable, it would be extremely hard to get it going again. A second principle for which the F.L.N. had fought with equal persistence was that it, and it alone, represented the sole Algerian interlocuteur valable with whom France could discuss peace. There could be no other partner, no "third force", whatever.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1419