Green March Speech, a History Lesson to Algeria

The speech delivered by King Mohammed VI Monday as Morocco was celebrating the 42nd anniversary of the Green march is a masterly history lesson addressed to Algeria and to all those who believe in Algeria’s whims and propaganda.

King Mohammed VI did not create facts nor did he refer to legends. He mentioned established historical facts.
Immediately after Morocco gained its independence from France, King Mohammed VI’s grandfather, the late King Mohammed V, on a visit to the southern village of M’hamid al-Ghizlan in 1958, reiterated Morocco’s historical and legal rights over the Sahara.

The Late King “solemnly and publicly declared to the representatives of the Sahrawi tribal sheikhs, who swore allegiance (bei’a) to him, that he would continue to work to recover the Sahara, in keeping with Morocco’s historical rights and in accordance with the will of the region’s inhabitants,” King Mohammed VI recalled.

“The historic speech at M’hamid al-Ghizlan is highly significant for several reasons. Not only does it represent a milestone in the completion of our territorial integrity, but it also confirmed a basic fact, which no one can deny, namely the Moroccanness of the Sahara and the Moroccan people’s unwavering commitment to their land,” the Monarch underlined, before supporting his remarks with other undeniable arguments, showing that the Sahara conflict was artificially created by Algeria to serve its own hegemony dreams.

He recalled in this connection that Morocco, through the voice of its late king, claimed its historical rights over the Sahara before it tabled the question at the United Nations in 1963. Morocco claimed its legitimate rights over its Southern provinces, at a time when no claims had been put forward regarding the liberation of the Sahara, except for Morocco’s legitimate demands. Morocco claimed its historical rights over the Sahara even before Algeria became independent.

Actually, at the time of Mohammed V’s speech at M’hamid al-Ghizlan, Morocco was backing Algeria’s independence struggle and supplying it with arms and ammunition. Hopefully, this year’s Green March speech will bring Algerian rulers back in time and remind them of what Morocco did for its eastern neighbor.

For King Mohammed VI, his grandfather’s speech, pronounced in those circumstances, “needs no further comment; nor can anyone dispute its credibility. It conveys more than just a commitment; in fact, it epitomizes the covenant that binds the Throne and the people”.

The M’hamid al-Ghizlan speech also confirms that the Sahara had always been Moroccan before the artificial dispute over the territory was fabricated.

To sum it all up, King Mohammed VI said solemnly “The Sahara will remain Moroccan until God inherits the land – whatever sacrifices may be required” and renewed his pledge “to make every effort to defend our territorial integrity and to enable our people in the Sahara to lead a free, dignified life”.