Algerian National Movement

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The Mouvement National Algérien (Arabic: الحركة الوطنية الجزائرية‎) or MNA (French, Algerian National Movement) was a socialist organization working for the independence of Algeria from France.

It was founded by veteran nationalist Messali Hadj as a rival to the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN) during the Algerian War of Independence. The movement had its greatest support among Algerian expatriates in France, where Messali resided, and exerted considerable influence over Algerian trade unions in the country. The FLN's armed wing, the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN), managed to destroy the MNA's capacity for guerrilla action in Algeria early on in the war.[1]

The MNA and FLN fought each other on French soil in the so-called café wars, resulting in thousands of casualties, but FLN gradually gained the upper hand. Control over post-independence Algeria would rest firmly in the hands of the FLN and its military, while the MNA vanished as a political organization.