Algerian president voices affliction over King Hassan II demise
Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika expressed deep sorrow and affliction over the demise of King Hassan II, in a message of condolences to the new king of Morocco, Mohammed Ben Al-Hassan.
"I was deeply saddened and so are all the Algerians who are attached to the shared Moroccan-Algerian ancestral historical heritage" by the demise of the late King Hassan II, whose loss will be deeply felt in the Maghreb and throughout the Arab-Muslim Nation, said the President of Algeria, where the national flag will be flied at half-mast during three days of mourning.
The Late King was "a gift from God," said Bouteflika describing him as a "brother in arms and venerable friend who held and will always hold a privileged place in my heart and in the hearts of all Algerian men and women." "The Algerian people is grateful to what this unmatched man, his Late father King Mohammed V, May God rest his soul in peace, and the generous Moroccan people, did to back and support Algeria in its struggle for liberation and to ensure victory to the entire Arab Ummah and the African continent," President Bouteflika added.
"On the basis of what the Algerian people and all the peoples of the Greater Arab Maghreb knew of His Majesty, the valuable Late King Hassan II, as a person attached to the unity and dignity of the greater Maghreb since the beginning of the struggle for the independence of all our countries, and on the basis of the sincere friendship vowed by all the Algerian people to your great father, to yourself, to your family and people, I pray God to grant you, to your glorious family and to all the Moroccan brothers patience and comfort," he said.
The work of the late King Hassan II, who devoted his entire life to the service of Morocco, the edification of the Greater Arab Maghreb and to all the legitimate causes of the Arab and Islamic Nation, and who never failed to assume his heavy responsibilities to the detriment of his rest and health, is worth remaining eternally in the collective memory of the Greater Arab Maghreb and of the Arab and Islamic Nation, the Message went on.
"The greatest tribute that we can pay to the memory of our dear Late King, in your country Algeria, is to assure your Majesty of Algeria's affectionate and fraternal support, while you are succeeding him and carrying on, with God's help, this blessed and radiant march whereby he honored the Moroccan people as well as all the Arabs by endeavoring for the wellbeing of brethren Morocco and the entire Greater Arab Maghreb," Bouteflika stated in his condolences message.