Word: tafilalet
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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...have been the scourge of Morocco. Time and again they have come galloping down from the Atlas Mountains to loot and rape. Because the French have not hesitated to use them for "pacifying" rebellious villages, they were always a threat to the Moroccan independence movement. One exception were the Tafilalet Berbers, led by Chief Addi ou Bihi, who sided with exiled Sultan Mohammed ben Youssef. When Ben Youssef was restored to the throne in 1955 to become the first Sultan of Free Morocco, one of his first acts was to appoint Addi ou Bihi Governor of Tafilalet province, a vast...
Divided Loyalty. But black-bearded Addi soon fell foul of the government and the militant Istiqlal (Independence) Party, which wanted to bring Tafilalet in line with the rest of forward-moving Morocco. "The Istiqlal," said Addi, "is a menace to our Sultan," i.e., it menaced Addi. Most of the Tafilalet caids (the local tribal rulers) were Addi's sons or retainers, and the nationwide judiciary reform, which ruled that caids must be replaced by government-appointed judges, struck at the roots of tribal power. When the national government sent inspectors and emissaries, Addi jailed a few. He rejected...
Sultan Mohammed ben Youssef (now grandly styled Sultan Mohammed V) was cruising in the Mediterranean last week when Addi learned that a new government appointed judge was on his way to Tafilalet. The judge arrived by air in Midelt, a mountain village built around an old red clay crenelated fortress in a cedar forest below the snow-capped Atlas peaks. Addi gave the signal, and some 3,000 Berber horsemen clad in white-and-brown burnooses swept down on Midelt. They quickly surrounded the fortress, captured the Rabat-appointed judge and 18 local policemen...
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