The tone of the official F.L.N. spokesmen was suspicious, critical and reserved; but the G.P.R.A. greeted the principle of "self-determination" as a step in the right direction, and announced that it was ready, under certain conditions, to begin preliminary talks. But to the most simpleminded member of the G.P.R.A. it must have been self-evident that one of the most important rounds in the war had been won, on the brink of military defeat. To his hard-pressed djounoud of the interior, the F.L.N. Minister of Defence, Belkacem Krim, issued a communiqué declaring: "Your struggle has obliged the enemy to talk of self-determination, thus renouncing the oft-repeated myth of Algérie française. His retreat is the fruit of your efforts." The principle of "self-determination" conceded, all the F.L.N. had to do now was to fight an obdurate battle to ensure that they, and no one else, would be the interlocuteur valable with whom de Gaulle would be forced to negotiate it.

DEFINE: Introduces 'pieds noirs' as European settlers in Algeria whose militant faction developed around a nationalist, honor-based opposition to secession.

Horne, Alistair, A Savage War of Peace- Alge…, loc. 1061