In addition to Western Sahara, which it has illegally occupied since 1975, the Morocco has another file on its hands, that of the Rif, a movement of which is demanding the recovery of the independence of this region.
The Rif cause is starting to garner support at the international level as we saw during “Rif Day” organized this Saturday, November 23 in Algiers.
In addition to Algerian political parties, there was at this “first demonstration outside Europe” a minister delegate from the South African government and representatives from Mozambique and the Polisario front.
“Rif Day” is organized by the Rif National Party (PNR), a movement created in 2023 which calls for the restoration of the Rif Republic.
One of its members, Youva El Ghedioui, insisted that the right words be used to designate the movement in this region of the North of Morocco.
“It is not a separatist movement because, historically, the Rif has never been part of Morocco. Our objective is to restore the Republic of the Rif, the first known on the African continent,” he said.
Hence the theme chosen for this Rif Day: the Rif Republic and the recovery of independence.
The initiators of the movement thus want to highlight “the historical and legal legitimacy” of the Rifians’ demand to recover what was forcibly taken from them, indicated El Ghedioui.
“Historically, the Rif has never been part of Morocco”
“The children of the Rif are not separatists, because the Rif has never been part of this organic entity called Morocco, a foreign entity implanted in the body of Africa to serve the interests of the colonial powers,” insisted the member of the PNR, recalling that under the agreements establishing the French protectorate in 1912, the Alawites handed over the sultanate of Marrakech to France in return for their retention in power.
The Republic of the Rif was the first state in North Africa to proclaim its independence, in 1921, under the leadership of Abdelkrim El Khettabi. The Republic lasted 5 years, until 1926, when Abdelkrim was defeated by French and Spanish troops, helped by the Alawite family, still in power in Morocco a century later.
The battle of Al Anoual, in 1921, remains the heaviest defeat inflicted by the Riffians on a colonial army, with 24,000 Spanish soldiers killed at once, recalled Abderrahmane Soualah, of the Algerian party of the Union of Democratic Forces and social services (UFDS).
“The Rif Republic was a symbol of dignity and had full sovereignty over its territory. But this dream did not last long because the Republic was the target of international plots and the alliance of internal and foreign colonialist forces,” regretted Youva El Ghedioui.
He thanked Algeria for hosting this event, stressing that it is in the order of things that “the Mecca of revolutionaries”, which was the first to recognize the Sahrawi Republic, is also the first to recognize the legitimacy of the Riffians' fight.
The activist revealed that he has not visited the Rif for 10 years. “If I go there, it would be my last trip,” he said, stressing that many activists of the Rif cause like him are languishing in the kingdom’s prisons. “We will go to the Rif the day when this land will be purified of the taint of the Alawites,” he hoped.
In the meantime, the peaceful fight continues to liberate the Rif. El Ghedioui launched an appeal to all Africans to henceforth consider “Western Sahara and the Rif as the last two colonies in Africa”. “The Rif question is part of Africa’s fight against colonialism,” he added.
A point of view shared by the delegate minister of South Africa and the representative of Mozambique who reported this sentence said one day by the president of his country to the king of Morocco: “The best African country is the one that does not colonize other African countries.
