Coup attempt in Morocco in 1972
A coup attempt in Morocco took place on August 16, 1972, when Defense Minister Mohammed Oufkir attempted to overthrow Hassan II of Morocco .
In 1965, Mohammed Oufkir asked the Israeli secret service Mossad to help silence the opposition politician Ben Barka . The director of the Mossad, Meir Amit , agreed, and in October 1965, Ben Barka was lured from Switzerland across the border into France, kidnapped by two embassy officials and murdered. Oufkir was convicted in absentia of murder by a Paris court on June 5, 1967, while General Ahmed Dlimi who was present was acquitted, suggesting that the court was inconsistent in its assessment of the evidence. On July 9, 1971, the birthday of Hassan II, a military coup failed in the Skhirat summer palace near Rabat, and Oufkir became chief of staff and defense minister in the government of Mohammed Karim Lamrani .
Hassan II's confidence extended to his entourage. When Hassan II made a trip to Paris in 1972 , Mohammed Oufkir was unable to travel with him because there was an arrest warrant against him in France.
On August 16, 1972, Hassan II returned with three of his children and his brother, Moulay Abdullah , unannounced on board his Boeing 727 . The approach of the Boeing 727 was registered by the Moroccan air surveillance , and three Northrop F-5s of the Moroccan Air Force took off from Kenitra Air Force Base to intercept the violator of the Moroccan airspace if necessary.
At the height of Tétouan , the interceptor pilots had visual contact with the Boeing pilot, Mohammed Kabbej, and signaled him to land on the Kenitra base. The Boeing 727 was about to approach Kenitra. Hassan II sensed treason and instructed Mohammed Kabbej to take off. Mohammed Kabbej announced the landing at Rabat-Salé airport as an emergency landing because two of the three engines had failed.
Ahmed Dlimi was ordered to crush the Mohammed Oufkir coup. Mohammed Oufkir was shot and the pilots of the Northrop F-5 Major Kouera el Ouafi and Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Amekrane disappeared. In the Procès des Aviateurs it was established that Providence had saved the Baraka Hassan II. Hassan II personally took over the offices of Defense Minister and Chief of Staff. Mohammed Kabbej became the Chief Operating Officer of Royal Air Maroc .
See also
Individual evidence
- ^ The Daily Telegraph , Jul 22, 2009, Major-General Meir Amit
- ↑ Time , Oct. 28, 1966, Surprise Witness
- ↑ Gilles Perrault , Our Friend the King of Morocco, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag , Leipzig, 1992, p. 122 ff.
- ↑ Time , Sep. Sep. 04, 1972, The Almost Perfect Regicide