Abderrahmane Youssoufi

Abderrahmane Youssoufi (1959)

Abderrahmane Youssoufi ( Arabic عبد الرحمن اليوسفي, DMG ʿAbdu r-Raḥmān al-Yūsufī ; * March 8, 1924 in Tangier ; † May 29, 2020 in Casablanca ) was a Moroccan politician . He was Prime Minister of Morocco from 1998 to 2002.

Early life

Born in Tangier , Abderrahmane Youssoufi became a socialist at a young age. In 1949, Youssoufi also began campaigning for the rights of Moroccan workers in France.

After studying law, he worked as a lawyer in Tangier from 1952 to 1960.

Political career

In 1959, Youssoufi joined the Union Nationale des Forces Populaires , a left-wing political party. He was arrested in 1959 and again in 1963, the latter arrest resulting in a two-year prison term. After his release, Youssoufi went into self-imposed exile in Paris for 15 years .

In the meantime, the Union Socialiste des Forces Populaires (USFP) has emerged from the Union Nationale des Forces Populaires . In 1980 Youssoufi returned to join the new party, of which he became secretary in 1992. In 1993, Youssoufi, who was persecuted by the regime for years, refused to participate in government in protest against election rigging and went into exile in France, from which he returned in 1997.

prime minister

With the announced gradual democratization in Morocco, parliamentary elections were decided for November 1997. The left opposition under Youssoufi won the parliamentary elections. In March 1998, King Hassan II appointed Youssoufi as Prime Minister of Morocco. Youssoufi's policy, which made compromises with the ruling royal family or was forced to do so, met with much opposition within the socialist-social-democratic party USFP. Among other things, Youssoufi was accused of a lack of social policy and too little to do against the monopoly of companies and the ongoing corruption . In 2001 there was a split in the ruling USFP party, the National Unionist Congress (CNU) party was founded by former party members.

Youssoufi held the office until October 2002. In 1999 Youssoufi was awarded the Lisbon North-South Prize of the Council of Europe . In 2003, Youssoufi announced his retirement from politics.

Web links

• Abderrahmane Youssoufi in the Munzinger archive ( beginning of article freely available)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ H24info: L'ancien premier ministre Abderrahmane Youssoufi est décédé .