This Saturday, February 25, 2023, the Moroccan people celebrate the 65th anniversary of the historic visit of His Majesty Mohammed V to M’Hamid El Ghizlane, on February 25, 1958, a historic event that bears witness to the strong symbiosis between the King and the people for the completion of the independence and territorial integrity of the Kingdom.
This visit, which marked the history of Morocco, constituted an important phase in the process of the struggle against foreign occupation, reflecting the deep-rooted ties between the Alaouite throne and the people, as well as the common will to complete the territorial integrity of Morocco.
Two years after the proclamation of the Kingdom’s independence and the triumphant return of the Father of the Nation, the late HM Mohammed V decided to make a tour from 20 to 26 February 1958 in the province of Ouarzazate. In a speech delivered on February 25, 1958, on the occasion of His historic visit to M’Hamid El Ghizlane, the late Sovereign underlined the permanent long-lived links that existed between the populations of the southern provinces and the Kings of Morocco, as well as the Kingdom’s will to recover its despoiled southern provinces in order to complete its territorial integrity.
This grandiose and historic event reflects the unwavering attachment of the populations of the southern provinces to their Sovereign and their Homeland, expressing their pride in having contributed to the heroic struggle that led to the recovery of independence and the return from exile of the late HM Mohammed V and the Royal Family, as well as their loyalty to the glorious Alawite Throne and the sacred values of the Nation.
The historical speech of the late Sovereign was a strong and clear message to the coloniser that Morocco will always remain in its Sahara and was based on the right of the Kingdom to recover its southern provinces and thus draw the contours of an independent Morocco.
The battles fought in the south of the country by the liberation army, spearheaded by the young Saharawis, are written in gold letters on the glorious pages of the history of the national struggle for independence.
The fighting of the liberation army was an opportunity for the people of the southern provinces to reiterate their mobilisation and their willingness to sacrifice like their forefathers, who perpetuated the tradition of national struggle, especially during the battle of Bougafer in 1933.
After the definitive departure of the coloniser from the country following a fierce resistance from the north to the south of the Kingdom, the contours of a new era were already taking shape, the era of construction to which the late Sovereign had called immediately after the liberation of the Kingdom from the yoke of colonialism: that of the construction of a new Morocco.
Through his strategic political vision, the late HM Mohammed V had shown foresight, thus laying the solid foundations of a sovereign and democratic state.
Today, Morocco, under the visionary leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may God assist him, continues the march to defend the sacred values of the Nation and its territorial integrity and to build the modern Morocco.
The celebration of the 65th anniversary of the historic visit of the late HM Mohammed V to M’Hamid El Ghizlane provides an opportunity for the younger generations to learn from the heroic events that marked the history of the Kingdom.