Word: moroccos
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Like a happy troupe of whirling dervishes they came, a mixed band of mediators shuttling tirelessly between Algeria and Morocco, hoping to end the nasty little North African border...
...Selassie flew to Algeria aboard the imperial Boeing 720 jet. Wearing a British field marshal's uniform, the Lion of Judah was warmly greeted by Socialist Strongman Ahmed ben Bella, who happened to be wearing his own favorite costume, Castro-type fatigues. Other envoys and messages descended on Morocco from the Arab League, the President of the Sudan, the Redeemer of Ghana, the President of Tunisia, and the feuding rulers of Egypt and Iraq...
Political enmity heated up the feud over territory. Hassan, a reform-minded but high-living monarch, preserved his ties to the West, kept on thousands of French teachers and technicians to help independent Morocco get started. This policy of moderation was abhorrent to austere, leftist Strongman Ben Bella and his vindictive brand of socialism. The Algerian regime launched a virulent propaganda war against Morocco...
Meanwhile, war fever gripped Algeria. At his demagogic best, Ben Bella proclaimed total mobilization to fight the imaginary "collusion" between the Kabylia rebels and the "feudal monarchy" of Morocco. "Hassan to the gallows," yelled the crowd of 100,000. Thousands of jobless, hungry Algerians happily joined the army, partly to get a free meal ticket. Ben Bella showed up in the National Assembly in a brand-new battle jacket, urged the Deputies to "give up your neckties and cuff links" and sign up too. Most did, and the Assembly was dissolved until further notice...
...time, the regime stepped up its anti-American campaign with the charge that U.S. pilots had airlifted Moroccan troops to the border. Despite U.S. official denials, the accusation seemed at least partially accurate. Four days before the fighting broke put, pilots of the U.S. Air Force training mission in Morocco ferried troops in six C-119s and C-47s to Marrakech, 300 miles from the frontier. Belatedly realizing that a border war was in the making, the U.S. hastily ended the operation...