Sophian reports on the dissolution of the National Union of Algerian Students (UGEMA)

February 20, 1958

Sophian reports on the dissolution of the National Union of Algerian Students (UGEMA)

On the morning of January 28th French officers arrested leaders of UGEMA, the National Union of Algerian Students, on the grounds of “violation of the external security of the State.” UGEMA’s dissolution and the wave of student arrest that followed, came as the climax of a year’s worth of arrests, including the very public arrest of UGEMA General Secretary Mohammed Khemisti on November 12th, 1957. In February of 1958, the Sophian published an article on the events, at which time Khemisti was still imprisoned. The Sophian presumably published the article because of the involvement of the U.S. National Student Association, which sent a cable to the french Ministers of the Interior demanding Khemisti’s release on November 16th, 1957. Another Sophian article was written in April, about the London Conference of National Unions of Students, which met to discuss the events in Algeria.

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[Last updated on October 31, 2018]