The Rif rebels

Abd-el-Krim, the legendary Rif warrior, has spent 36 years in exile since the day he was taken prisoner after six years of bloody war with the French and Spanish colonialist armies united against his Berbers in northern Morocco. Abd-el-Krim was born in 1883 into a family of Berber nobles with a great following and influence among the tribes of the Rif mountain range. The French occupation of central and southern Morocco and the Spanish occupation of northern Morocco, which began in 1912 with the acceptance of the colonial protectorate by the Sultan, caused a lively ferment among the Arab and Berber population of the country. The tribe of Abd-el-Krim rebelled against the Spanish in 1920 when the troops of the government of Madrid occupied the holy city of Chefchaouen. Gathered a group of warriors, they took refuge in the impervious mountains of the area, starting an incessant armed struggle against the Spanish.

The successes won him the loyalty and devotion of all the Berber tribes of the Rif, where the revolt became general. The Spanish colonialists were defeated at Annual and left 20,000 men in the field. Abd-el-Krim discerned the Sultanate of Rabat, whom he called a servant of the occupants, and proclaimed himself the Sultan of Morocco: proclaiming the Republic of the Rif. In 1925 Abd-el-Krim found himself engaged in war even with the French, who came to the aid of the Spanish, certain that by getting rid of him they would also conquer Morocco. Abd-el-Krim and his warriors fought against the overwhelming forces of the two colonialist powers, until the end, which came in 1926. Captured by the French, Abd-el-Krim was deported to Reunion Island in the southern Indian Ocean, and the Berbers in the mountains laid down their weapons, but his name was not forgotten among the warriors of the Atlas Rif: the man who tried to free Morocco from imperial colonialism.