Personalities pay homage to the late King Hassan II in special report on Morocco
Morocco, Politics, 1/7/2000

Eminent personalities from various walks of life: historians, researchers, executives of international organizations have paid homage to the late king Hassan II in a 20-page special report on Morocco, published by the quarterly magazine "Real Africa."

French historian and magazine manager Bernard Lugan said he was a figure of the 20th century who accomplished great work nationally and internationally. He has succeeded in helping Morocco cross a crucial stage of its history, that of building a state of law with a constitution.

On his part, a former executive at the United Nations mission supervising the holding of a referendum in the Sahara hails the late king's great international politics, agreeing with the late sovereign's saying that Morocco is a tree whose roots run deeply in Africa and who breaths with its leaves rustling at the winds of Europe. Actually Morocco's roots are mostly in the Sahara, said the international officer who also hailed the King's action to recover the Sahara from Spanish colonization, making of this issue a nonnegotiable national cause.

In his article titled "The Sahara: the great work of a reign," the international officer produces various historical evidences to prove that the Sahara is Moroccan territory, mainly the fact that during the Almoravid era, Morocco was heading an immense empire stretching from the Senegal river to the center of Spain and between 1042 and 1052 the Almoravids unified all the Sahara which was the same economic, political and religious world as Morocco.

He further regretted that when the colonial powers proceeded to divide the territory, they did not take into account the region's socioeconomic realities, causing artificial divisions.

Among the contributors to the special report, businessman and finance figure, Philipe Thomas who managed for a long time a European banking institution in Morocco. His story hails the late king's mobilization for the country's development and initiatives, like the launching of a huge dam construction program which he cited as one of the successes to acknowledge the late king for.

He also paid tribute to the man of culture and faith and to the artistic heritage of the late king who created an architectural style of his own whose jewel are "the Mohammed V mausoleum" and the "Hassan II mosque" in Casablanca.

Another testimony was made by Moroccan academician, Abdellatif Benjelloun, who made a historical survey, focusing on the monarchy in Morocco. Morocco, a real state-nation where national unity is never questioned, has the chance to be a monarchy in the full meaning of the word, he wrote noting that when King Hassan II died, there was no breaking-off as only traditional monarch allow for political continuity. What the late king could not complete, his successor, King Mohammed VI, will complete, he concluded.

Previous Stories:
  Rabat hosts colloquy on the late King Hassan II   (12/21/1999)
  Dakar boulevard named after the late King Hassan II   (12/16/1999)
  Cote d'Ivoire's president hails late King Hassan II's efforts for territorial integrity   (12/6/1999)

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