Word: glaoui
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Descendants of the Prophet are numerous in North Africa, but few of them have the prophetic sense so inherently well developed as Hadj Thami El Glaoui, the 80-year-old Pasha of Marrakech. Foreseeing a few years ago that a tough French line might prevail in Morocco, El Glaoui brokered the shady business of selling out Morocco's legitimate Sultan Sidi Mohammed ben Youssef. But when nationalist sentiment rallied around Ben Youssef and forced Premier Edgar Faure into making bargains with Moslem nationalists, wily old El Glaoui had different insight. "Must I become your government's enemy...
Wearing a grey-striped djellabah, El Glaoui dropped in at Rabat's Imperial Palace, presented himself to the new Premier-designate Fatmi Ben Slimane. He then issued a statement giving his full support to the nationalists. Said he: "I share entirely the joy of the Moroccan people at the announcement of His Majesty Sidi Mohammed ben Youssef's return to France. I make my own the wish of the Moroccan people, which is that of the prompt restoration of Ben Youssef and his return to the throne. Only his return can bring unity and calm to the spirits...
...Glaoui's switch was a decided embarrassment to the French government: both President Coty and Premier Faure have stated publicly and emphatically that the reinstatement of Ben Youssef is no part of their plan. They have long used El Glaoui's opposition as an excuse not to make concessions to the nationalists...
Three days after El Glaoui's about-face, the diehard Union for the French Presence, representing powerful French colons in Morocco, also backed down from its previous stand, issued a meekly worded statement saying that the question of the throne was "for Moroccans only." Meanwhile, Sidi Mohammed ben Moulay Arafa, the man the French had chosen to be Sultan, then exiled, renounced all rights to the throne in favor of Ben Youssef...
...year rule. Snorted Deputy Jacques Vendrous, De Gaulle's brother-in-law: "France played cards while the Saar was lost." Deputies were also nettled at South Viet Nam's summary rejection of French Puppet Bao Dai, and shocked by the sudden defection of El Glaoui, France's oldest Moroccan ally. Yet none of these reverses vexed the touchy Deputies as much as Edgar Faure's surprise proposal (TIME, Oct. 31) for snap Assembly elections to be held before Christmas. "Grave national responsibilities" confronting the country early next year, Faure had said, required that the Assembly renew...