"From their point of view, I had gone too far. I had to disappear. That is to say, if the Algerian army had not overthrown me, others would have done so"

In this quote, Ahmed Ben Bella is assessing his downfall as the very first president of Algeria. He describes that from the viewpoint of those who opposed him, he had actually taken his actions too far and had actually become a danger. As an outcome, he had to vanish from the political scene. He then goes on to state that if the Algerian army had actually not overthrown him, somebody else would have ultimately done so. This highlights the extreme political environment in Algeria at the time and the power struggles that were happening. It likewise reveals Ben Bella's acceptance of his fate and the awareness that his removal from power was unavoidable.