The Almoravid Heritage and Modern Day Moroccan Geostrategy

Those who interpret Morocco’s geostrategic goals as only the tip of the iceberg of a much larger and hidden political agenda to rebuild the Middle Ages’ Grand Maghrib (The Greater Morocco), which saw its peak during the Almoravids and the Almohads, are merely engaged in a politically calculated process of impugning of motives. The objective is clearly political: to stand in Morocco’s way of legitimizing its liberation of Western Sahara from Spanish Colonialism and its efforts to get back the enclaves of Ceuta and Melilla from Spain, as well as thwarting its effort to demarcate its maritime borders in accordance with the provisions of international maritime law.

The use of history as a means impugn motives with regard to modern legitimate political objectives, namely liberation from Spanish colonialism, seems to be a strangely desperate attempt to swap roles so that the one who seeks liberation becomes the one with undisclosed colonial intentions.

Yet, that is a blessing in disguise. The proponents of the “expansionist theory” who accuse Morocco of having proto-colonial interests underscore, ironically enough, the North African country’s historically legitimate claim for Western Sahara, because, they, unwillingly, recognize it as having been part and parcel of Moroccan rule and sovereignty since the twelfth century (i.e. approximately ten centuries ago)—as were by the way, Western Algeria, Mauritania, and Al-Andalus.

Does this mean that Morocco has the right to claim Algeria, Mauritania and Al-Andalus? Of course not. This is not a viable option as these countries, whose sovereignty is internationally recognized, are now independent. Algeria was a province that was for sure under the rule of the Moroccan dynasties of the Almoravids (11th & 12th C.), the Almohads (12th and 13th C.), the Marinids (13th & 15th C. ), the Wattasids (15th & 16th C.), and of the Ottoman empire for 3 centuries, from 1516 till 1838. It was a French colony for 132 years, from 1830 till 1962 and became an independent and full-fledged country since 1962. Mauritania gained independence in 1960, and Andalusia is a region of Spain since the fall of Granada in 1492.

As for the Western Sahara, which was liberated by Morocco from the Spanish colonizer in 1975, it has been registered by the North African country on the UN List of Non Self-Governing Territories in 1964. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued a resolution on October 16, 1975, stating that, contrary to what Franco was claiming, Western Sahara, was not a terra nullus, and stressing that allegiance bonds linking the Sahrawi populations to the Moroccan kings existed over the centuries. After the signature of the Madrid Accords in 1975 by virtue of which Western Sahara was liberated from Spanish Colonialism and returned to its legitimate people, i.e. the Moroccans, the territory should have been removed from the list of Non self-Governing Territories but, unfortunately, it was not.

Let us dive into history to see how far this relationship goes. Let us follow the traces of history, zooming in on the Almoravid dynasty to see how the events that took place between 1040-1147 shaped, in an indelible and irreversible manner, how Western Sahara has always already been Moroccan since the Almoravid time.

The Almoravids first emerged as a reform movement that relied on the unity of the Amazigh Sanhaja tribes, whose territories spread from the Senegal River in the south, passing through the areas of M’Sila, Tri, and Mellah in Algeria, and then to the Atlas and the Rif mountains in Morocco. Afterwards, growing stronger militarily, the movement took control of commercial roads, becoming an Islamic state that stretches from present-day Mauritania, western Algeria, and Morocco, all the way to Al-Andalus and up until the borders of Castile and the Kingdom of Navarre.

In the first quarter of the eleventh century, Yahya ben Ibrahim, leader of the Amazigh Sanhaja confederation –comprised of the Lamtuna (ancestors of the present Sahara inhabitants), Kadala, Gzula and Mesmuda tribes, among others – asked Abdullah Ben Yassin, a student of Waggag Ben Zallu al-Lamti who was stationed in the coastal town of Aglou west of Tiznit, to accompany him to the Sahara and parts of Western Sudan (present-day Mali and Mauritania, all the way up to Adrar, Twat, Es-Sakia el Hamra and Oued Eddahab,) in order to spread Islam in these areas.

After initial failures, Abdullah Ben Yassin was able to build a strong Ribat (a monastery-like center for the devout, the pious and the pilgrim) on the Senegal River, implementing Sharia laws, including hudud (corporal punishments for fornication, adultery, alcohol drinking, theft and robbery etc.), thereby severely punishing those he thought were astray from his strict understanding of religion. On the other hand, he united the tribes of Lamtuna, Kadala, Masoufa and others, based on a tight organization of faith and on the fundamentals of the Da’wah (Islamic preaching). The jihad initiated by Ben Yassin first led him to the Kingdom of Ghana, where he recaptured Audaghost (present-day eastern Mauritania) and parts of the Niger River.

Despite the death of Yahya Ben Ibrahim and later Yahya Ben Omar, the Almoravids gained wide acclaim. Hence, under the religious and military command of Ben Yassin, the newly-emerged power in Africa annexed a huge chunk of western Sudan, and expanded from the Senegal River to the south and the Niger River to the east all the way to the south of Oued Noun, passing through Tiris Zemmour, Adrar, Es-Sakia el Hamra, Oued Ed-Dahab, and further north.

Perhaps the leading event that established Almoravids’ control of Maghrib al-Aqsa (present-day Morocco) was the conquest of the Souss region in 445 A.H -1054 AD when Waggag Ben Zallu al-Lamti asked Ben Yassin to help Souss inhabitants put an end to the control of the Zenati Maghrawis. Consequently, a battle took place, ending with Sijilmassa’s fall in the hands of the Almoravids, after which it was “cleansed” of all manifestations of “al-Munkar” (evil deeds), in the light of Ben Yassin’s fundamentalist interpretation of religion.

After controlling Sijilmassa’s uprising against Almoravids’ religious intolerance as well as subduing Kadala tribe’s rebellion against the Lamtuna tribesmen’s domination and monopoly of key positions in government, the military commander Abu Bakr bin Omar (who succeeded his brother Yahya) moved to the Souss region in 448 A.H-1056 AD. It was at this period that the military commander Yusuf bin Tashfeen emerged as a potential leader of the Islamic state. He was appointed by Abdullah bin Yassin governor of Sijilmassa. Starting from there, he expanded his territory to include Taroudant, Massa, and Kadala. After capturing the Souss region, the Almoravids headed to Aghmat, where they killed its prince –Lqout Maghraoui– and took over the important city.

Enjoying one victory after the other, the Almoravids army went to battle against the allegedly heretic Barghwata (who had written their own version of the Qur’an) near Rabat. It was in one of these ferocious battles that the Almoravids lost their great leader Abdullah Ben Yassin in 1059. After receiving allegiance to succeed Ben Yassin as both religious leader and military commander, Abu Bakr took control of Zenata, Miknasa, and Louata, before returning to Aghmat.

Overpopulation in the town of Aghmat prompted the establishment of a new capital, Marrakech. The new city was chosen to be as close as possible to the original tribes of Lamtuna, Kadala and Jazoula (some of which are the ancestors of the present-day Western Sahara tribes, namely the Tekna, Errguibet, Ouled Dlim, Laaroussiyin, Zarguiyyin etc.) and not far from the strongholds of the dissident Maghrawa and Barghawata.

Abu Baker then led half his army to Lamtuna and Kadala to solve the arousing disputes that were breaking out between the two Sahrawi tribes, while leaving the other half under the command of his cousin Yussef who was supposed to set off from Marrakech as well to quell the revolutions of the rebellious tribes of Zenata and Maghrawa to the north. It was the same army led by Yussef that would later on capture the north and east of Maghrib al-Aqsa, as well as all of Maghrib al-Awsat (present-day Algeria minus the southern Saharan parts ) before conquering Al-Andalus.

The Sahrawi depth of the Moroccan state remained relatively strong during the reign of the Almohads (1121-1269). Yet, the peak of the close attachment between the Moroccan state and the Sahrawi tribes was in the Saadi era (1510-1659), when the dynasty controlled the long strip of land stretching southwards from Twat and Taghaza to Timbuktu, Gao, and Tjini.

This close connection was further solidified with the Alawi dynasty (beginning in 1666) whose armies penetrated as far as Chenguiti all the way to the Senegal River and beyond to Northern modern-day Senegal.

However, the frontiers stretching from Oued Noun to Cap Boujdour remained constant and unchanged under the rule of all successive dynasties, including the Marinids and the Wattassids. Throughout history, the strip stretching south to Cap Boujdour and east beyond Tindouf and Twat was part and parcel of the Moroccan Makhzen (Moroccan rule). This depth is the basis of Moroccan sovereignty over the Sahara, which is a historical, political, cultural, geographical, and geostrategic. The strong bond between Morocco and its African depth, which dates as far back as the Almoravids and stretches over time till the Spanish colonization that started in the 1880s, is the historical sediment of Morocco’s legitimate claim over Western Sahara. It is the essence and the basis of the legitimate presence of Morocco in Western Sahara.