Jan 3, 2010

Oxford Dictionary of World History | Abd el‐Krim

Abd el‐Krim ( 1881 – 1963 )
Moroccan Berber resistance leader. In 1921 he roused the Rif Berbers, and defeated a Spanish army of 20,000. He held out until 1925 , when a joint Franco‐Spanish force took him prisoner. He was exiled to Réunion until 1947 , when he was given permission to go to France. On the way he escaped to Cairo, where he set up the Maghrib Bureau, or Liberation Committee of the Arab West. After Moroccan independence ( 1956 ), he refused to return as long as French troops remained on African soil.