Lieutenant Colonel Mohamed Amekrane
Mohamed Amekrane was born in 1938 in Chaouen in the Rif. He comes from a poor family with seven children, of which he is the oldest. He studied at the military school of Toledo in Spain and continued his studies as a fighter pilot in France.
When Morocco bought Northrop F-5 fighter jets from the United States in the mid-sixties, pilot Amekrane started an internship in the US. He belongs to the first generation of Moroccan jet fighter pilots and makes a career in the Moroccan Air Force as a fighter pilot. Amekrane reaches the rank of lieutenant-colonel, holds the position of commander of the airbase of Kenitra, the jewel of the Moroccan Air Force where two squadrons of F-5 fighter jets are stationed. In 1972 he was promoted to sub-commander of the Moroccan Air Force.
Amekrane married in 1963 a German woman, Mellita, who was renamed Malika Amekrane. Together they had two children, Rachid (1964) and Yasmina (1965). Every month he sent part of his pay to his family. He speaks six foreign languages. He was suspected of participating in the Rif Revolt of 1958/1959 (during this period he did an internship in Marrakech).
Amekrane suffered from kidney cancer, and in 1972 he was admitted to a Parisian hospital for treatment of his illness. In the summer of that year he returned to Morocco, against the advice of the French doctors. He gave in to the pressure of General Mohamed Oufkir who needed the lieutenant-colonel in Morocco as a matter of urgency for his dark plans…
Translated by Najat M.
