Morocco: Whether it is possible to identify where a citizen or a family is from by their last name; origins of the names Alaoui and Arbaoui; whether Alaoui is the last name of the royal family; whether it is possible to bear this last name and be a Saharan or a Berber; whether a person can be a Berber and a Saharan at the same times

According to the political counsellor of the Embassy of Morocco, it is not always possible to determine from which city a person comes from in Morocco by looking at their family name (28 Nov. 2000). People move often and establish themselves in different parts of the country (ibid.).

The full name of the current king of Morocco is Mohammed Ben El Hassan Alaoui (Confluence Méditerranée Fall 1999). For the history of the Alaouite dynasty, please see the following article taken from the Website of the Kingdom of Morocco:

The Alaouites

were also descended from the prophet Mohamed. They had arrived from Arabia some three centuries earlier to settle near Rissani in the Tafilalet region in the south. (They are referred to as Filali). Unlike preceding dynasties they did not move and seize power but were formally invited by the people of Fez to come to the capital and take over the throne of Morocco.

The first Alaouite ruler, Moulay Rachid, reigned in 1666. He restored order with a firm hand, revived the life of all mosques and drove out all the pretenders. Under the reign of Moulay Ismael (1672-1727) Morocco was made again a great country. He exchanged ambassadors with many leading Powers. Meknes was chosen by Moulay Ismael as the imperial city which he made his capital. Today, the miles of ruined walls, palaces and stables bear witness to his energy and ambition and also to the scale of his success.

In 1757, another wise and strong Alaouite ruler came to the throne. He was Mohamed ben Abdellah. He built the city of Essaouira and invited the English, the French, and the Jewish people to settle and to trade there.

Moulay el Hassan acceded to the throne in 1873. He had the task of pacifying the tribes and was the first monarch to enter the wild Souss Area, where the tribes never acknowledged the authority of the state.

During his reign, the European governments suggested ways of reforming administration, such as fixed salaries, civil servants and a more structured method tax collection.

Attacks on foreigners were frequent and the tribes took power into their own hands. At that time, the French occupied Morocco, The Spaniards, for historical reasons, insisted on sharing the influence on Morocco. In 1906, the Conference of Algeciras (in which 30 nations were present) took place and had the effect of internationalizing the whole affair. Tangier was an international free port, and the whole country was under the protectorate of the French government.

In 1912, Sultan Moulay Hafid signed the Treaty of Fez. He was relieved from the power to govern. The country was under the control of a French Resident- General called Lyauty. He aimed to pacify and to construct. He also built the ports of Casablanca and Kenitra, the new towns of Rabat, Fez, Meknes and Marrakech, while the old medina of theses cities remained untouched. A modern educational system was introduced, the administration was modernized and the legal system reformed. Still the tribes in the south of Morocco were very rebellious. By 1920, there was a more structured rebellion and resistance in the Rif Mountains, led by Abdelkarim Khattabi. The French began by driving a wedge between Berbers and Arabs. The Sultan, at that time, signed a Berber decree in 1930, which on the contrary of what the French calculated, brought the two parties even closer. Then, a serious movement of national independence was born especially formed by young intellectuals from Rabat and Fez.

In 1927, Moulay Youssef was succeeded by his son Mohamed V, aged 17 years old. It was not until after World War II that the independence movement really gathered momentum. The troops Moroccans provided for the French army had conducted themselves with honor. At that time, an official independence party was formed called Istiqlal, whose first act was to send a memorandum to the sultan and the French authorities asking for independence and a democratic constitution. The immediate reaction to this request was the arrest of several Istiqlal leaders, whereas the sultan refused to sign any more decrees concerning his people (1997).

For additional information on the history of the Alaouites, please consult the article in Le Temps du Maroc entitled: "De Moulay Ali Chérif à Mohammed VI, trois siècles et demi au service du peuple et de la patrie."

The New Internalionalist magazine gives the following information on the origins of the Saharawis:

1. ORIGINS

Today we know the indigenous people of Western Sahara as Saharawis. But you can see in Saharawis' faces – most of them light-skinned, some of them dark – evidence of the waves of migration and conquest which have swept across North Africa, as Arabs collided and intermarried with Berbers and with black Africans from south of the Sahara.

It was from this region that the Almoravids emerged, a proselytizing Islamic movement which built up an empire encompassing not just Morocco and Mauritania but also most of Spain. But the Saharawis' most direct ancestors may have been people who migrated to the area from beyond Africa, in Yemen, around the thirteenth century.

By the eighteenth century this particular mix of peoples and cultures had blended into something distinct: a group of nomadic tribes called the Ahl Essahel who shared the same language, Hassania (one of the purest dialects of Arabic now spoken), and the same mild, tolerant form of Sunni Islam (25 Aug. 1999).

No information on the origin of the name Arbaoui, on whether it is possible to bear the name Alaoui and be a Saharan and a Berber and on whether a person can be at the same time a Berber and a Saharan could be found among the sources consulted.

This Response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the Research Directorate within time constraints. This Response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum. Please find below the list of additional sources consulted in researching this Information Request.

References

Confluence Méditerranée [Paris]. Fall 1999. No 31. Abderrahim Lamchichi."De formidables défis pour le jeune roi Mohamed VI." [Accesssed 28 Nov. 2000]

Embassy of Morocco, Ottawa. 28 November 2000. Telephone Interview with political counsellor.

Kingdom of Morocco. 1997. "The Alaouites." [Accessed 28 Nov. 2000]

New Internationalist [Oxford]. 25 August 2000. "Simply – Western Sahara." [Accessed 28 Nov. 2000]

Le Temps du Maroc [Rabat]. 7-13 January 2000. "De Moulay Ali Chérif à Mohammed VI: Trois siècles et demi au service du peuple et de la patrie." [Accessed 28 Nov. 2000]

Additional Sources Consulted

IRB Databases

Unsuccessuful attempt to contact an oral source.

Internet Sites, including:

Countries & People of Arabia

Arab World on line

Embassy.org

CIA World Fact Book

Encyclopedia of the Orient

Nation by Nation

Morocco

Encyclopedia.com

Britannica.com

Africannames

Search Engines, including:

Google

Metacrawler