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Hassan II has put a price on
his head and ordered members of his secret service to bring him
dead or alive. Ahmed Rami has the rank of lIeutenant in the
Moroccan Army and has been vice minister to general Oufkir. He
took part in two plots against Hassan II and has been condemned to
death as a sequence. He secretely left the country and now lives
in Northern Europe. "lnterviu" met him In his secret refuge in
Sweden.
The nearest witnesses spoke
of several explosions in close succession. Like those produced by
grenades. Some of them must also have seen the blue armoured
Mercedes serving as fuel for the flames. But nobody provided
concrete details of what took place. The 9endarmerie immediately
cordoned off the area and prevented people from approaching the
scene. The burnt-out car was hurriedly removed and extreme care
was taken to gather up any remains that might be left lying on the
track. The time was 715pm on January25, 1983. A short time
afterwards a spokesman of the Royal Palace of Rabat communicated
to the world "the horrible death of General Ahmed Dlimi in a car
accident on the Marrakesh road". The news of the death of the man,
second only to Hassan himself in the Moroccan regime, was greeted
with astonishment and scepticism throughout Morocco. And a shiver
of fear was felt in the spines of many.
It was subsequently
explained that everything had been caused by a 'crazy truck' which
had run into the car of the senior Moroccan commander and that
Dlimi died more or less on the spot. But not even his nearest
family ever managed to see the corpse. The body of the general,
carefully enclosed in a metallic coffin, was delivered to his
nearest and dearest just before the burial ceremony, which was
performed in unusual haste. And the Army, breaking with
established traditions, failed to send a message of condolence to
the King for the accident. All troops remained on alert in the
days following the general's disappearance.
Political Plot
A week later, Roland
Delcour, the veteran Le Monde correspondent, questioned the
veracity of the official version of the accident, reported the
detention of a dozen Army chiefs and insinuated the possibility of
a political intrigue as the real cause of Dlimi's death. The
Moroccan Secret Police arrested him Immediately afterwards and
subjected him to an exhaustive non-stop interrogation lasting
forty-eight hours. lYThey only Insisted on one thing", Delcour
explained subsequently, "they wanted to know the source of my
information. Of course I revealed nothing." The official Moroccan
press started to speak of "the intoxication and provocation of
certain journalists and reporters", and even went so far as to
threaten him with five years' imprisonment. Finally after the
mediation by telephone of Jean Louis Blanco, Secretary General of
the Elysee, the French journalist is expelled from Morocco. The
affair was laid to rest.
"The official version
released by the Royal House concerning the death of Dlimi is the
most momentous lie in the recent history of Morocco", states Ahmed
Rami, dressed in the olive-green uniform of an officer of the
Moroccan Army. This short, brown-skinned man is of Berber origin.
He was born thirty-seven years ago In Agadir province, In southern
Morocco, and has in his eye that strange look that marks indelibly
the men who have chosen a path without return. Until 1972 Ahmed
Rami was officer in an armoured regiment of the Royal Moroccan
Army situated at Moulay Ismail in Rabat. Following the
unsuccessful 'Putsch de Skhirat' (Skhirat putsch) he became vice
minister to the powerful General Oufkir, the right arm of Hassan
himself, and together with him took part in the attempt to get rid
of the King when he returned by Boeing from France on August 16,
1972. After that he went into hiding and a year later left the
country en route for Sweden, where he asked for political asylum.
He now lives in Stockholm, under conditions of tight security. He
is the only member of the "Free Officers' Movement", responsible
for the 1972 coup attempt, who managed to escape abroad. King
Hassan II is well aware of this and knows, too, that Ahmed Rami is
an awkward witness of too many things.
Dead or alive
"King Hassan II has given
order for my capture dead or alive, and has put a price on my
head. The Swedish Police have already foiled two kidnap attempts
and 1 am obliged to reamin on constant alert~ not only on account
of King Hassan's men, but also for the agents of the CIA Itself. I
am aware that I have become a terribly uncomfortable witness for
his lntemsts."
After the official announcement of General Dlimi's death, Ahmed Rami was interviewed by Swedish television and utterly refuted the official version, stating that the Moroccan general had been murdered because he was preparing a new plot to overthrow the King the following July. The Royal House of Morocco trembled from head to toe and responded with silence.
"It is perfectly logical.
They are unable to say anything. They know quite well that it is
true and can't deny it. Dlimi didn't die as It was stated
officIally. He was murdered In the Royal Palace on the personal
orders of Hassan II and In the presence of two CIA officers. I can
now testify before the world that Dlimi was preparing a coup
against the King In co-operation with our Mo""ement of Free
Officers, and that the operation should have taken place In July
of this same year. It attempted the overthrow of the actual
monarchy and its replacement by a democratic and popular regime.
We had been preparing it for a long time. Dlimi avoided all direct
contact with the Free Officers In Morocco, but as he often
travelled abroad It was easy for him to get In contact with me.
Lately we met two or three times a year In Paris, London or
Stockholm. We always took the necessary precautions but we didn't
know that the CIA was watching him closely. Last December, du'ring
our last meeting here in Stockholm, an AmerIcan agent filmed him
on video while he was speakIng with me. That, as we now know,
meant his death sentence."
"But,
what really took place?"
"It all began ten days
before Dlimi's death when a Colonel of the United States
Army, who had arrived from Washington, asked for
a private audience with Hassan and handed over a dossier which
contained evidence accusing DIlmi of
preparing a
coup. Among the evidence was the video film of our meeting In
Stockholm. We don't know the exact content of the conversation but
we do know that the King viewed the film. From that
moment Hassan II began to prepare the General's
death. At eleven o'clock in the night on January 2LI, 1983, Dlimi
was urgently called to the Royal Palace of Marrakesh. There he
found that a dozen members of the Special Security Servicer the
King's secret police, charged with ensuring the monarch's safety
and headed by General Moulay Hafid Alaoui, were waiting for him.
The SSS (Special Security Service) arrested DImi
immediately and took him to an interrogation chamber situated
under the Royal Palace itself. At one o'clock in the morning on
the 25th of January the King arrived. He was accompanied by two
American agents of the CIA, who carried two large suitcases filled
with sophisticated Instruments of torture. They all spent several
hours there and at five o'clock In the morning DIlmi was already
dead. They then determined to cover up the murder. Placing his
body in the official Mercedes they took it to the outskirts of
Marrakesh and had It blown up with explosives in order to leave no
trace. The gendarmerie cordoned off the spot and removed any sign
of what had happened. Nobody, not his widow nor the rest of the
family was authorized to see the body of the general, and although
In the official version provIded reference was made to a
'tear-away' truck which careered into the general's car, it is by
no means sure that such a vehicle even existed. The only civilian
survivor of the 'accident', Lahrizi, who was said to have been
travelling in the same car as Dlimi, is the owner of a small
travel agency and is also well known for his close links with the
SSS. After the 'accident' he hurriedly left on a pilgrimage to
Mecca, and from here all trace of him has been lost."
"What about the
first contact with Dilmi in order to prepare a new coup
attempt?
"The contacts with DIlmi had been going on for a very long time. I was connected with him since 1973 when he helped me to flee from Morocco after the failure of the attempt to shoot down the Boeing in which the King was travelling. From 1974 onwards we started to meet in Paris or London and we discussed the future of the regime. For Dlimi I was a very representative officer, because I had been Oufkir's vice minister up until his death and one of the principal organizers of the "Free Officers' Movement" in the heart of the Moroccan Army. The only contact that Dlimi had with the movement was through me. My colleagues feared that he was being watched and never wished to risk a meeting with him inside the country. I was the one charged with acting as a hridge between the different people. The last time I saw him was in December of last year. He was staying at the Grand Hotel in Stockholm. He travelled without an escort, just one other person accompanied him, and he travelled under the passport of a lawyer. One day a Moroccan waiter happened to recognize him and he immediately changed his accomodatlon. It was in this city, too, that we began the drawing up of a communiqu~ to be read over the radio following the seizure of power. We began thus: "In the name of Allah and our martyrs, and In the name of the people, we abolish the monarchy and tyranny In Morocco and we replace it with the Democratic Arab Islamic Republic of Morocco."
"What did the plan to overthrow Hassan II comprise?"
"The technical plans of all
coups are somewhat alike. Whether reactionary or progressive there
are features In common. Like machine-gun, the general system of
functioning is common to all, the supplementary techncical
features matter less. In outline, the operation planned for July
involved utilizing the paratroop units to occupy the Royal Palace,
the Radio, the Ministry of the Interior, the Police headquarters,
to arrest the King and to issue a communiqu~ announcing the
proclamation of the Republic. The King would have been tried
immediately. We intended to abolish the death penalty and
institute a democratic regime, a regime of political liberties.
The first communiqu~ to have been broadcast, was Inspired on the
one I myself drew up In 1972 when we tried to shoot down the Royal
Boeing. I presented a rough draft to DImi, we discussed It and he
accepted it. I was meant to have entered Morocco a week before the
coup in order to take command of an armoured unit and, at the
appropriate time, to seize the Communications Centre and the Royal
Palace. It was arranged that I should arrive on board a military
plane and I had all the necessary uniforms. Dlimi himself brought
me them in Paris on one of his trips. At that
time neither of us suspected that he was going to
die before carrying out the operation."
"What was the mistake
that Dlimi made?"
"Dlöimi's principal
mistake was to be too sure of himself and he underestimated the
King's intelligence services. He always used to say that they were
useless. DIiml was the chief of the counter-espionage service and
believed that he held all the cards and that he had even
infiltrated the SSS, but in fact what had happened was the
reverse. Those working for the SSS had managed to get themselves
taken into his most trusted circle, and when they believed it most
suitable, they betrayed him to the King. At our last meeting In
December, for example. he told me that he had noticed that the
King was beginning to suspect him, that he was a bit anxious, but
he put it down mainly to the shifting moods of Hassan II himself,
due to his great liking for drugs. Dlimi didn't trust the
Americans either, but he didn't believe they were watching him
continually, even on his trips abroad. In actual fact things
really started to move after the Israeli invasion in the Lebanon.
At that time a certain resentment arose In the core of the
Moroccan Army and the officers started to accuse Hassan II of
serving lsraeli interests and of supporting American policy in
Lebanon. That must have worried the CIA. After the fall of the
Shah of Iran, above all following the coming to power of Reagan,
the Americans don't want to lose the strategic position they enjoy
in Morocco and are determined to forestall any possibility of
change. They happened to find out that DIlmi was preparing a
conspiracy to overthrow the monarchy and that he had contacts with
the "Free Officers" through me. That was fatal for him."
"How did you find out about his death?"
"That I am unable to reveal. Our movement has ears and eyes everywhere, even inside the Royal Palace. In Morocco everyone is afraid to speak out; nobody trusts anybody else and information only circulates with difficulty. But let's say that the communications between Casablanca and Paris are much better than those that exist between Rabat and Casa blanca. Our movement is formed of military personnel trained in the use of military techniques for communications. We know that we are facing a powerful regime and we attempt to make use of all the technological resources that currently exist. Apart from the telephone. which is automatic for calls from Morocco to Europe? we tend to make use of coded telegrams. We utilize a code that is changed once a month. We have tested the methods and we know that they function well. For example, I knew of Dlimi's death only one hour after it happened, when nobody in Morocco yet knew what had taken place. It has been only subsequently, through me, that many have learnt the news. When I was informed of the news it was a tremendous shock and I thought at once of the misfortune that has accompanied all the attempts at overthrowing Hassan II.
"Following Dlimi's
death there was talk, too, of a wave of arrests within the Royal
Army..."
"Yes, there has been a new wave of repression in the ranks of the Army. The arrests are continuing even now. To begin with they arrested Major Tobji, the aide-de-camp to Dlimi, and his family were also hurriedly forced to leave the service appartement that had been assigned to them. All Dliml's property was also confiscated and the house he had just built in the fashionable Souissi suburb In Rabat has been taken over by the police. They then finished by arresting all the family and I have recently received information that just two weeks ago DIlmi's own father died in prison as a result of the torture he was subjected to."
"After all this is
what remains of the Free Officers' Movement ?"
"It is true that after
Dlimi's death we of the "Free Officers' Movement" have been
gravely weakened, but the truth is we continue to exist. The
Movement of "Free Officers" Is a secret organization, born from
the initiative of a group of young men sprung from the masses, who
attempted to channel within the Army itself all the discontent
that exists in the country. We were a group of young officers who
in 1972 tried to carry out, by means of a coup as the beginning of
a revolution, the Moroccan people's dream of freedom and
democracy. Dlimi's death this January has been a terrible blow for
us, but the Movement is going to continue. Its existence is not in
danger. Since 1972 the King has been unable to wholly dismantle
it. He has tried to by every possible means, he has arrested many
officers, has moved others from one command to another... but the
fact is that there are cells of "Free Officers" In the majority of
Army units and that these maintain their activity. On occasions
leaflets are distributed in the barracks and among the units and
communiqu~s from the exterior are reproduced.
This
interview, for example, will I am sure be
distributed clandestinely among the units within a very short
time."
"So the Moroccan monarchy continues to be threatened from the barracks?"
"Yes. the throne of Hassan II continues to be threatened. And it always shall be because it is not a legitime monarchy. In Islam there is no monarchy and the ideology of the people in Morocco is Islam. Besides, the true revolutionary Islam is opposed to the dictatorial monarchy which fails to respect the will of the people. Islam does not recognize the division of the Islamic world in puppet states created by colonialism. For this reason the Moroccan Army, which is not isolated from society, is continually looking for new ways to put an end to this decadence, to finish off this rotten regime. Now Hassan II does not know exactly what might happen in the Army and is afraid of everyone. Since 1972 he has not put a foot in a barracks and has never travelled to the Sahara to visit the military units. At present the Army is Hassan's enemy number one. The Armed Forces in Morocco are the vanguard of the opposition. So, despite the failures and setbacks that have occurred up till now, I am totally optimistic. Hassan's regime carries within itself the needs of its own destruction. It is a sick regime afflicted with the "gangrene" of corruption. A regime which will end up falling of Its own accord."
"What are yow'
tactics going to be after the abortive attempt planed for iuly
1983?"
"Our
present tactic Is to organize a popular revolution similar to that
which toppled the Shah of Iran, in which soldiers, civilians, and
all the Islamic movement shall take part. We young officers
carefully analyzed the new situation and we agreed that, as
Morrocco forms a part of the great Islamic nation, our revolution
could never remain isolated from the Islamic revolution In
general. It is true that the Islamic revolution finds Itself today
in a catastrophic situation due to the confrontation with states
politically and militarily as arrogant as Israel and the United
States, states which have an overwhelming superiority compared to
us. All this creates a military inbalance to the disadvantage of
the Islamic world, which
lays us open to terrible military and political humiliations.
Therefore we believe that the only solutions is to support the
Palestinian people in a just and clear-out way, approaching the
problem as a question of Israeli colonialism, a racist state to be
removed In the future. For Moslems, Christians and all free people
in the world this aim is only a question of time1 but needs a
permanent struggle."
"And how is it going to work out in practice In Morocco?"
"With the fusion of a new movement of the Moujahidines, which we have called 'Almohadin' (the Unifiers), intended to regroup all the political forces in Morocco and which will carry out in the near future a series of resistance and terrorist operations which shall increase steadily. The person or regime that is an obstacle in the way of Islamic unity and the Palestinian liberation must be eliminated politically. If possible the elimination shall be carried out in a democratic way, but in cases of dictatorship we shall use terrorist violence if necessary. Tyrannical regimes such as that of Hassan II can only be combated using violence. In reality this type of decadent and corrupt regime only survives thanks to the passivity of the masses, to the fear that exists among the people and to the terrorism directed against defenceless citizens. From now on the crimes of the present Moroccan regime shall no more go unpunished. And in this sense the Movement of "Free Officers" shall be no more than a military arm of the political movement of Islam aiming to establish a just, democratic, and tolerant society in the Islamic world. A society consistent with the religious and ethnic minorities which retain their place as they always have done in the history of Islam.
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