Feudal Lords, Foreign Hands, and the Formation of Sovereignty in Decolonizing Morocco

Abstract Less than a year after Morocco's independence in March 1956, Addi ou Bihi, the governor of Tafilalet, organized an uprising of poorly armed tribesmen against the central government. This brief insurgency failed spectacularly, as the Royal Armed Forces quickly forced the rebels’ submission without firing a single shot. He was sentenced to death following a widely publicized trial two years later. The contemporary Moroccan press, as well as subsequent historians, have depicted Addi ou Bihi as a traitor to the nation who had sought the return of the former colonial masters for his personal gain. After all, he had served the French authorities during the protectorate era (1912–56) for nearly three decades. By contrast, this article understands the Tafilalt rebellion not as primarily a power grab by an ambitious individual but as a political struggle over competing visions of the future among rural elites, the nationalist Istiqlal Party, the royal palace, and France. Analyzing the clash of these rival political forces enables us to analyze the contested formation of sovereignties in decolonizing Morocco.