The Green March told by the late King Hassan II

From the beginning of the 1970s, the late King Hassan II began difficult negotiations with the regime of General Franco, to find a solution to the question of the Moroccan Sahara.

But the general responded either by categorically opposing its restitution, or by invoking the independence of this part of Morocco, reports Al Ahdath Al Maghribia Monday, November 6.

Spanish intransigence changed gradually, with the advancing age of General Franco, and the occupation of the Spanish regime anticipated the period following his disappearance.

In one of his meetings, on October 15, 1974, with the American Secretary of State, Henri Kissinger, King Hassan II informed him that “the existence of a state in the Sahara is equivalent to the acceptance by the United States of the presence of Soviet missiles in Cuba…».

And the Sovereign continued forcefully: “if Spain announces the independence of the Sahara in the morning, I will order the army to enter at 11 a.m.».

And to clearly show his fierce opposition to any idea not including the Sahara in its Moroccan environment, the late Sovereign told his interlocutor, relay Al Ahdath Al Maghribiawhich «the Spaniards were going to return home; as for Morocco, it will be surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean and then Algeria, Algeria, and Algeria, on the other three facades».

The Sovereign was sure that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would rule in favor of the Kingdom of Morocco, evoking with Kissinger the official register of France from 1955, which mentioned that the cities of the Sahara were managed by the Moroccan central administration .

After long hearings which stretched over the period from June 25 to July 30, 1975, the International Court of Justice delivered its advisory opinion on October 16.

A judgment which recognized the existence of links of allegiance between the sheikhs of the tribes and the Sultans of Morocco, as well as economic and political links between these populations and the Kingdom.

Despite this, explains the daily, the ICJ’s decision remained ambiguous, and did not formally rule in favor of the Kingdom of Morocco.

Two months after the announcement of the advisory opinion, and precisely on August 19, 1975, the late King Hassan II told the journalist Éric Laurent that, while he was preparing the outline of the speech that he was going to to deliver on the occasion of the Anniversary of the Revolution of the King and the People, he wondered what he could say in this speech.

In the evening, the Sovereign fell asleep, but he was suddenly awakened and had a waking dream of thousands of Moroccans demonstrating in major cities and demanding the return of the Sahara to the Kingdom of Morocco.

It was from there that the late Sovereign had the idea of ​​organizing a large peaceful gathering, which would take the form of a march towards the Sahara.

The idea that came to the King’s mind in August 1975 remained in his heart for two months, writes Al Ahdath Al Maghribiauntil the day the International Court of Justice gave its advisory opinion.

The same day, that is to say October 16, 1975, explains the daily, the Sovereign delivered his famous speech, where he declared: “All we have to do is undertake a peaceful march from North to South to get to the Sahara and reconnect with our brothers.».

We know the rest, relays the daily: the late King gave the order, on November 6, to begin the march and cross the borders.

A Green March which impressed the whole world, and which engraved in golden letters the ingenuity of the late King Hassan II.