Morocco commemorates the 64th anniversary of the passing of HM King Mohammed V, a hero of the independence struggle

Rabat – The Moroccan people commemorate, on Saturday, 10th day of the holy month of Ramadan 1444 H, the 64th anniversary of the passing away of the Liberator of the Nation, late His Majesty King Mohammed V.

The Father of the Nation passed away on February 26, 1961, the 10th day of Ramadan in the year 1380 of the Hegira, just a few years after the Kingdom had achieved independence at the cost of a tenacious struggle that had permitted the Homeland to be freed from colonialism.

The late Sovereign, who devoted his entire life to the cause of liberating Morocco, made all the necessary sacrifices—including going into exile with the Royal Family—to secure Morocco’s complete freedom from colonial rule.

The Liberator of the Nation, a Sovereign whose path was closely tied to the fight for the country’s independence and the exercise of sovereignty and freedom for the Moroccan people, is remembered by Moroccans for his long march of liberation and his fight on all fronts and in close symbiosis with his people.

The late King Mohammed V insisted on consultation and coordination with the National Movement in his tenacious fight for independence because he was convinced that the restoration of sovereignty could not be the result of a single person or institution but rather the result of a group effort based on faith and the awareness-raising and mobilization of the Moroccan people.

The presentation of the Manifesto of Independence on January 11, 1944, marked the culmination of this widespread nationalist and patriotic action. This audacious move demonstrated the perfect symbiosis between the Throne, the national movement, and the people, and it served as the first step toward freedom from the protectorate’s yoke.

Sultan Mohamed Ben Youssef traveled to Tangier on April 10, 1947, to make a thunderous speech that would live in history and in people’s imaginations. For good reason, the Sovereign gravely and publicly stated Morocco’s claim to independence for the first time, giving the colonial authorities the willies as they prepared to do whatever to recover control of the situation.

The colonizer devised a nefarious plot against the Sultan and the August Royal Family, who were driven into exile in 1953, first in Corsica and then Madagascar, following the failure of all their schemes, blackmail, and threats intended to persuade the late HM Mohammed V to give up the national struggle.

The occupier’s cunning plan backfired. The deportation of Sultan Mohammed Ben Youssef further united the people and the national movement behind him, sparked a wave of unrest and armed resistance against the colonial forces, and made independence the cause, not just of an elite of nationalist politicians and intellectuals, but of a whole people mobilized behind their Sovereign. This action was intended to tear down the bridges between the late King and his devoted subjects.

This extraordinary epic of patriotism, bravery and loyalty was crowned by the triumphant return of the Father of the Nation and the August Royal Family to the Motherland, on November 16, 1955, and the announcement, one year later, of independence and the beginning of the “Great Jihad”, that of the building of a new and modern Morocco.

After the recovery of the Kingdom’s independence and in the same spirit of the Father of the Nation, His Majesty the late King Hassan II, companion of the hero of independence, continued the work of consolidating the achievements, by engaging in a large-scale program for the economic and social development of the country, before His worthy successor, His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist Him, takes up the torch to continue the work of His predecessors with determination and abnegation.

As a result, His Majesty King Mohammed VI has made it a priority since ascending to the Throne of His Glorious Ancestors to complete this massive national undertaking and usher Morocco into a new period of modernization and worldwide advancement.