Hassan II

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Hassan II during his visit to the United States (1983)
Hassan II (1981)

Hassan II ( Arabic الحسن الثاني بن محمد, DMG al-Ḥasan aṯ-ṯānī b. Muḥammad ; * July 9, 1929 in Rabat , French Morocco as Moulay Hassan; †  July 23, 1999 ibid) was King of Morocco from 1961 to 1999 .

biography

Hassan was born in 1929 as the eldest son of the former sultan and later King of Morocco, Mohammed V , and came from the Alawid dynasty , which has ruled Morocco since 1639 and which derives its origin directly from the prophet Mohammed. Hassan received a careful upbringing from private tutors, then until 1948 in an upscale college set up especially for him in Rabat. His subsequent law studies at a branch of the University of Bordeaux in Rabat, he completed in 1951 with a legal doctorate. In addition, he completed a course on the French sailing training ship Jeanne d'Arc in 1949 .

Hassan spoke French as fluently as all the dialects in his homeland.

After independence in 1956, he became Commander-in-Chief of the Army and put down several Berber uprisings in the Rif Mountains after the Rif-Berbers tried to find the then heir to the throne and Commander-in-Chief of the Army near Al- Shoot Hoceima.

Consolidation of power

When his father died, Hassan II came to power. His solemn accession to the throne was on March 3, 1961. As king, Hassan II continued the Alawid dynasty and pursued a conservative policy, relying primarily on the old elites and the feudal structures of the country. After Morocco became a constitutional monarchy in 1962 , Hassan II dissolved the parliament after unrest and took over the affairs of government personally again. Disputes over the course of the border formed the occasion for the Algerian-Moroccan border war in October 1963 . Domestically, he primarily had the left opposition persecuted and driven into exile. In 1965, Ben Barka, a leader of the left opposition, was kidnapped and killed in exile in Paris. This led to growing opposition, Hassan II barely survived two republican coups in Shkirat in 1971 and on his return trip from Paris in 1972 .

In the 1970s and 1980s, the country was re-Islamized. Hassan II wanted to oppose the left that challenged Morocco's monarchy and introduced Wahhabism . This extremely conservative doctrine is considered the breeding ground for the so-called Islamic State . “The conservative interpretation of Islam took hold in Morocco. In schools, at universities. "" Wahhabism should ensure calm. Because Wahhabism is based on the idea that the ruler knows what to do in the interests of Muslims and that everyone has to accept that. To defend oneself against the ruler is a crime in Wahhabism. "

Western Sahara conflict

In 1975 Hassan II initiated the " Green March ", during which 350,000 unarmed Moroccan civilians occupied the Spanish colony of Western Sahara , which was also welcomed by the domestic political opposition. However, after the Spanish withdrawal, he let Morocco occupy part of the Western Sahara itself. Soon the military resistance of some of the locals began under the Polisario . This created strong tensions with Algeria and Libya , which supported the Polisario. The Western Sahara conflict has not yet been resolved. Reconciliation with Algeria and Libya only came about in 1989, when the Arab Maghreb Union , including Tunisia , was founded to deepen economic and cultural cooperation.

Serious human rights violations

In the 1970s and 1980s in particular, serious human rights violations occurred under his rule , directed against any kind of opposition to the royal family. This period is sometimes referred to as the dirty war . The victims of state repression were members of the military after the coup attempts in 1971 and 1972, members of left parties and movements, and activists for self-determination in the Sahara. The crimes committed - including torture and the disappearance of people - were so numerous and serious that his son Mohammed VI. set up a truth commission in 2004 to investigate and redress her. It was the only such commission in the Arab world to date.

In the mid-1990s, Hassan II himself had caused a move away from the politics based on merciless repression due to domestic and foreign political pressure. Just a few months before his death in 1999, he set up the first national commission to deal with this issue. As a result, the notorious Tazmamart prison was closed and numerous political prisoners enjoyed amnesty . An important driving force behind the reforms was an association of former political prisoners called Forum Verité et Justice , which persistently brought the issue to the attention of the Moroccan public.

Balance sheet and end of rule

Apart from the devastating record in relation to human rights, his positive achievements include: the systematic construction of numerous dams to supply the local agricultural industry with water, as well as efforts to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict through mediation. In economic terms, including education, however, there were major problems overall during Hassan's reign. At the end of its rule, Morocco had an illiteracy rate of over 50 percent. Unemployment was over 20 percent, the proportion of the poor in the total population of Morocco rose from 13.1 to 19 percent between 1991 and 1999, and due to the high government debt, 30 percent of the national budget had to be spent on debt financing each year.

Domestically, Hassan II managed to keep the emerging militant Islamism under control. Since the 1992 constitutional amendment, a cautious liberalization of politics began.

Hassan II died on July 23, 1999 in Rabat. He was succeeded by his son Mohammad VI . Another son, Moulay Rachid , became the new Crown Prince. US President Bill Clinton , French President Jacques Chirac , Israel’s Prime Minister Ehud Barak and the heads of state of several Arab countries were guests in Rabat at the memorial service . Even German President Johannes Rau , Prince Charles , Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak , Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Jordan's King Abdullah II bin. Al-Hussein were participants of the funeral, as Queen Sophia of Spain and Farah Diba .

Hassan II was a member of the US Rotary Club and, according to the Rotarian Service above self , committed to the highest ethical and moral conduct.

literature

Web links

Commons : Hassan II.  - Album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Hassan_II. in the Munzinger archive , accessed on January 6, 2017 ( beginning of article freely accessible)
  2. ^ Jean-Pierre Roger: Morocco , page 15, ISBN 3-89905-476-8 ( limited preview in Google book search)
  3. ↑ tagesschau.de: Extremism in the Kingdom: Why always Moroccans? Retrieved August 24, 2017 .
  4. ↑ Eric Goldstein: Morocco's Dirty War. In: The Nation, January 3, 2002.
  5. ↑ Hard landing in the world economy In: Le Monde ( translated by Edgar Peinelt ( Memento of the original from January 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and remove then this note. ), June 16, 2001. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / afrika.heim.at
  6. ↑ Morocco: Funeral for King Hassan II. In: Spiegel Online . July 25, 1999, accessed January 6, 2017 .
  7. ^ Rotary Global History Fellowship
  8. ↑ Rotary International: What is Rotary? ( Memento of the original from June 28, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / rotary.de
personal data
SURNAME Hassan II
SHORT DESCRIPTION Moroccan Sultan, King of Morocco (1961–1999)
DATE OF BIRTH July 9, 1929
PLACE OF BIRTH Rabat
DATE OF DEATH July 23, 1999
Place of death Rabat