Morocco’s African Foreign Policy

Morocco’s African foreign policy is neither a new nor a recent phenomenon. Morocco was a
founding member of the Organization of African Unity (1963); indeed, the congress that inspired
that organization was held in Casablanca, Morocco, in 1961. Under Kings Mohamed V and Hassan
II Morocco had strong links with several African states, prominent among which were Senegal
and Gabon, as well as Guinea and former Zaire. Morocco supported those states and their rulers,
including by military means, as when Morocco sent troops to Zaire in 1977 and 1978 in support
of the Mobutu regime. At the non-governmental level, Moroccan universities have been hosting
students from other African states since the mid-1980s, which has created solid personal and
social links between Moroccans and people from those other states.

Last, but not least, on the religious level Morocco has had an important – and essentially spiritual – influence in Western African Islam, notably in the case of the Tijani branch of Sufi Islam, which has held Morocco in very
high esteem.   …