Rifians protest against Morocco in Germany
On Sunday 23 June 2019, Rif activists held a sit-in in Mülheim an der Ruhr, against a delegation from the Moroccan “super-minister” Aziz Akhannouch. Dozens of Rifians are protesting against the arrival of the Moroccan minister in Germany.
Despite the horrific murder of the fishmonger Muhcine Fikri that has shown that the fishing sector in the Rif suffers from large-scale and structural corruption, Mohamed VI has kept his minister in position. Towards the Moroccan media Akhannouch declares that he is against the release of the Hirak Rif activists that Morocco is keeping in prison. These political prisoners have been kidnapped, tortured and raped by the Moroccan police. They have been sentencedup to 20 years’ imprisonment in a show trial.
Akhannouch (1961) comes from Tafraout, southern Morocco, is in the current government minister of Agriculture, Fisheries, Rural Development and Water & Forests. He is chairman of the Moroccan political party the National Grouping of Independents (RNI). Akhannouch is the largest owner of the Akwa Group, a billion-dollar conglomerate founded by his father. It has interests in petroleum, gas and chemicals traded through Afriquia Gaz and Maghreb Oxygen.
Akhannouch and his crew visited Germany to meet Moroccans abroad for the purpose of investing in Morocco. He was expected at the meeting location by a group of about 35 Rif activists, who stood there from 9:00 in the morning. The Moroccan minister entered a car with blindfolded windows. He also brought his own security guards. The demonstrators chant slogans like “Akhannouch tell your master that the Rifians are not his slaves”, “long live the Rif and away with Allaouite colonization”, “keep kissing the hands and kneeling before the king then you will get a part of the cake”, “the Rif is my country, Morocco needs to go away“. Banners were showing: Rif is not Morocco.
The guests were received with criticism by the demonstrators, and when they got out of the cars they were reminded that their presence at such a meeting supported the dictatorship in Morocco. Moroccans from all over Europe were also present at this meeting, they were also harshly criticised by the demonstrators: “If you wanted to be slaves, what do you do in Europe?”
At around 18:00 the demonstrators left for their homes, coming from Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands. The sit-in went without a hitch. It was not clear whether the minister had already left or whether he was still in the venue when the demonstrators went home.
Saturday 22 June 2019, the Moroccan Secretary of State for Transport, Logistics and Water, Mohamed Najib Boulif, during a meeting in Montpellier, France, was questioned by the visitors about the human rights situation in Morocco and that he came to share lies to the Moroccan in Europe.
On 14 June 2019 the Moroccan government spokesman Mustapha Khalfi was questioned by the Rif activist Mohamed Awariach during a meeting in the French city of Strasbourg, why Morocco continues to chase the Rifians after they were deported from their country after the revolt of 1958/1959. The same minister got hard critical from Amazigh and Rif activists the next day in Paris.
Translated by Najat M.
