Rif Republic
The Republic of the Rif, (in Rifian: ⵜⴰⴳⴷⵓⴷⴰ ⵏ ⴰⵔⵔⵉⴼ, Tagduda n Arrif; in Arabic: جمهورية الريف, Ǧumhūriyyat ar-Rīf) was a North African territory that separated from the Spanish Protectorate of Morocco in 1921, proclaiming itself independent, being reinstated in 1926 to the Spanish protectorate. Some confederated tribes of the Rif mountainous region adopted that name to designate the territory that became independent from Spain during the war they waged against the European country, between 1921 and 1926 (Rif War). Sometimes it is called the Confederate Republic of the Rif Tribes, but this name was not official. The republic was dissolved on May 27, 1926 by the Franco-Spanish military coalition, after the failure of the Oujda Peace Conference of that same year. Abd el-Krim and the Rif leaders refused to accept the sovereignty of the Sultan of Morocco over the Rif that the European powers demanded of him as a condition for establishing peace.
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Background
Kingdom of Nekor
The Kingdom of Nekor (Berber: Tagldit n Nkor) was an emirate in the Rif area, with its capital initially at Tensaman but later at Nekor. It was founded in the year 710 Himyari, by an immigrant from Yemen, Salih ibn al-Mansur, by Caliphal concession. He converted the Berber tribes to Islam. However, the Berbers got tired of the restrictions of the religion, and expelled him. A few years later, the military strength of Islam became notable and the Berbers changed their minds and this ruler returned and from this time his dynasty, the Banū Salih, ruled the region until 1019.
In 859 the kingdom became the target of a fleet of 62 small Viking ships that defeated a Muslim force at Nekor that had tried to interfere with their raids in the area. After spending eight days in the Rif, the Vikings continued their course through the Mediterranean, devastating the Spanish coasts.
The Rif before colonization
Prior to the establishment of the French and Spanish colonizers, Morocco was nominally under the rule of a sultan who ruled through a state structure known as the Majzen (lit. 'warehouse')., which could be translated as 'cut'. The sultan, apart from being an absolute monarch, held the title of prince of believers (amīr al-mu'minīn) , a name traditionally reserved for caliphs (the kings of Morocco after independence of the country in 1956 have retained this title, which no other Muslim ruler uses). The sultan was, therefore, the political and spiritual head of Morocco.
In practice, the second of his powers was much more recognized than the first, since a good part of Morocco rejected the rule of the Makhzen, even though it accepted the religious tutelage of the sultan. Morocco was divided in this way in two:
- Bled el-Majzen (country of the court), which understood the areas in which the sultan government was effective, and
- Bled es-Siba (country of the free flow or country of the disobedience), areas in which only its authority was recognized in religious matters, rejecting state structures, and which were in permanent conflict with the Majzen.
The Rif, a mountainous region with a predominantly Berber culture in the northwest of the sultanate, belonged fully to Bled es-Siba. Like other territories independent of the sultan, it did not have a centralized power structure but a multitude of alliances created from tribal structures and political leagues at various levels (community, faction, clan, tribe, confederation). The decision-making body at each of these levels was the assembly (agraw in the Riffian language), made up of community representatives, who elected, generally for an annual period, a chief (shaykh or amgar). The most important tribe of the Rif at the beginning of the 20th century was that of the Ait Wariaghel, known in Spanish historiography as Beni Urriaghel (from its Arabic name, بني ورياغل bani waryaghel).
The Rif War
The Spanish penetrated the Rif at first by making pacts with local chiefs and establishing themselves in small positions that were generally in the form of blockhouses. They did not stray too far from Melilla, their rear. In 1921 the tribes of the central Rif revolted, including that of Beni-Urriagel commanded by Abd el-Krim, notable of the Ait Wariaghel, just at the moment in which the Spanish troops ventured to establish more risky and unprotected positions. Several positions were heavily attacked, in a campaign that lasted throughout the summer of 1921 and culminated in a heavy Spanish defeat at Annual. This Rifian victory started a war that lasted until 1926. The Rifian rebellion was finally defeated thanks to the landing of Al Hoceima.
Proclamation of the Republic of the Rif
After Annual's victory in the summer of 1921, Abd-el-Krim felt more confident in effectively organizing and developing the Rif movement, which emerged throughout the war, for the reason that the Rif was liberated by the hard hands of the Haraka. The lack of a coherent Riffian regular army and the lack of a body that would coordinate between tribes, as well as the management of its own economy and administration, led Abd-el-Krim to democratically hold a general congress, where he would study, evaluate the situation after of victory and will establish new tools for a stronger movement. The approach was accepted with great enthusiasm by the Riffians, so the representatives of the cabilas were invited to participate.
The meeting took place on September 18, 1921, Abd-el-Krim began with a great speech, where he talked about the relationship between the Rif and Spain and Morocco, denounced all kinds of colonialism, both Spanish and French, and not accept any treaty of the protectorate.
We've never recognized this protector and we'll never recognize it. We wish to be our own rulers and to maintain and preserve our legal and indisputable rights, we will defend our independence with all the means at our disposal, and we will raise our protest against the Spanish nation and its intelligent people, who we believe does not discuss the legality of our demands."Abd-el-Krim
In the same act several important points were agreed upon, among them the independence of the Rif. Abd-el-Krim was made emir, a National Council of Notables was set up, and September 18 was set as Independence Day. The payment by Spain of an indemnity to the Riffians affected by the war and military occupation, during the past twelve years, and two other more important points at the foreign policy level were also adopted. First, the establishment of friendly relations with all states. In this sense, we quote a letter written by the Riffian leaders to the Spanish saying:
We are surprised to ignore the interests of Spain itself by not making peace with the Rif, by recognizing its independence, and thus promoting good-neighbourly relations, instead of humiliating our people and ignoring all human and legal doctrines of universal law, as they are contained in the Versailles treaty signed after the Great War [World War I].Leaders
The second item was the application for membership in the League of Nations (precursor of the United Nations Organization). On this issue, we quote the famous letter addressed to the League of Nations by Arnall and Bujibar who traveled to London in June 1922. This document, sent from London to the General Council on September 6, 1922, said the following:
We, duly accredited representatives of the real government of the Rif, inform them that we have constituted a properly elected representative power, composed of deputies of forty and one tribes of the Rif and Gomara. Among the most important points agreed, we have a properly elected representative assembly that governs our country in full conformity with the objectives of the League of Nations, second, we are willing to guarantee the rights of all nations in all areas related to trade, and we do not in any case establish rights more gracious than those set in other regions of Morocco, another point, we are willing to give evidence and guarantees that demonstrate that we are able to govern the country in the interest of international peace and security.Arnall and Bujibar (Representatives of the Republic)
The rifice government, established according to modern ideas and the principles of [western] civilization, is also considered independent, both politically and economically, with the privilege of enjoying our freedom as we have enjoyed it for centuries, and living as the other peoples live.Mohamed Azerkan, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Rif
The Rif National Council held several sessions approving a 40-article constitution, based on the principle of authority of the people. Members of the government were responsible to the National Assembly. Therefore, Abd-el-Krim was appointed President of the Council. According to Achtatou —quoted by Salafranca—, said constitution —together with several documents— was burned by the Spanish troops when they took Axdir. The Rifian state was named Dawlat Aljumhuriya Rifiya (Rifian Republican State). The next step was the formation of a modern government, to put an end to the old traditional structures, and introduce a democratic model based on a highly representative administration. It was made up of the President or Emir, the Vice President (Mhamed Abd el-Krim, Abd-el-Krim's brother), and four ministers (of Finance, of Foreign Affairs and the Navy, Defense and Interior), apart from two secretaries and three inspectors and paymasters. The spirit of change and modernity is represented by the fact that most of these members were young people who did not exceed 45 years of age, in the case of Caid Seddik, Abd-el-Krim's private secretary, being only 22 years old. All had higher education and command of languages, as an instrument of communication with the representatives of other countries, and to convey their message to the international community.
Internal organization and administration
Safety and economy
Abd-el-Krim continued his process of innovation by installing institutions, such as security forces. His mission was to guarantee order internally, and the armed forces to defend the territory against external aggression, made up of valid men from each tribe. In each tribe he instituted a mahcama , a government office with political and military purposes. A secret police was created, which provided accurate and highly important information to the Rif Government. Another of the attributions of the state, the collection of taxes, a kind of fiscal agents established by Abd-el-Krim in the territory under his control. Continuing with his reforming work, he ended intertribal conflicts, and expanded the system of alliances in a chain, reaching tribal unity and solidarity among the Riffians.
In 1926, the journalist Hernández Mir wrote (in Alianza contra el Rif ) that the organization of the Treasury was the most perfect work of the initiatives undertaken by the ephemeral Rif Republic and that in a short space of time had managed to raise more than 12 million pesetas. This amount contrasts with the 600 million pesetas collected that President Mohemmed ben Abdelkrim declared to Roger-Mathieu (Memoires, 1927), not only in the area controlled by him but even in the entire area of influence Spanish, an amount necessary according to him to meet the 200 million spending budget of the new Republic.
To contrast such disparate figures we have the cold figures of the global income budget of the Spanish Protectorate in both western and eastern areas. Between 1916 (when the hacienda began to operate) and 1932, that is, in a period of 15 years, the Jalifian hacienda collected a total of 205 million pesetas. During the same period it spent 511 million pesetas. The difference was covered by the Spanish budget. The 200 million expenditure budget of the Rif Republic was equivalent to the spending of the Protectorate between 1916 and 1927, and the political-administrative and military organization of the protectorate cannot be compared with the organization of the Republic of the Rif in terms of size., directed by Abd el-Krim.
The Rif Ministry of Finance, in charge of Abdeselam, paternal uncle of Si Mohammed (maternal uncle according to Sigifredo Sainz, captive in Axdir), basically collected from the returns from the Habus and the Koranic tax from the Axor, which Goded (Las estapas, 1932) replaced by the Tertib, a non-traditional tax, advocated by the European powers, which in its day provoked popular protests throughout Morocco, completing the revenues from the fines imposed on villages and kabilas and the rights of souks. As expenses, following Goded, there were troop assets and officials and various expenses.
To complete the organization of the State, M'Hammed ben Abdelkrim, brother of the President, hired the English captain and financier Charles Alfred Percy Gardiner in 1923 to create the Rif State Bank, with the power to issue banknotes. The Englishman carried out many extractions of money for his benefit, including some non-existent mines and all kinds of organizations and services under a monopoly regime. All this set-up fell apart shortly after, as this Gardiner turned out to be an opportunistic swindler, without material and financial means to carry out what was established in the clauses of the signed contract. Of course, as a singular initiative, and without the aforementioned state bank being created, Gardiner sent to the Rif an unvalued quantity of one and five raffle notes that, as was to be expected, did not circulate, and according to Juan de Spain, a pseudonym after which the diplomat Sangróniz wrote (La actuación, 1926), were thrown into the sea by order of Si Mohammed.
Justice
On a legal level, President Abd-el-Krim abolished revenge (blood debt), established courts of justice, and created prisons (which had never existed in the Rif), such as the famous Tajanust prison, on the Isli river (in the capital, Axdir).
The penal system was complicated because before the Republic there were no written codes and there was no limit between crimes of a civil nature and strictly military ones. Thus, crimes such as Kabyles who did not accept the Riffian state, those who helped prisoners to escape, combatants who committed an act of cowardice and homosexuality were considered to death. The caídes that failed in the war action were revoked from the command of their units. On the other hand, the caid punished minor offenses with 15 days of arrest and 30 more days at the war front, or as guards in dangerous places. Discipline problems, getting up late or having a dirty rifle were considered military offences. With these reforms, Abd-el-Krim established with few resources great order and security in the territory, and established peace, ending all tribal conflicts.
Health and education
In the areas of health and education, El Rif experienced a great shortage of human and material resources. Therefore, the people of the Rif suffered from many diseases and those injured by the bombs of the Spanish aviation, plus the wounded from the war, urgently increased the health need, both in terms of personnel and the necessary material. This led Abd-el-Krim to request international help in general, and the International Red Cross in particular. The republic had two hospitals, one in the capital Axdir and another in Chefchaouen, but these centers lacked all kinds of resources. The first step was to bring in a doctor from Fez, a specialist in general medicine. Later the hospital received two humanitarian expeditions and two people: a Norwegian nurse (named Walter Heintgent) and a black healer from Tangier (named Mohamed). The Chefchaouen hospital had few resources. After the expulsion of the Spanish, France and Spain prohibited humanitarian aid for the Riffian people, except for three expeditions that exclusively treated foreign prisoners.
In education, Abd-el-Krim created new schools. For example, the Axdir school, the Zauia Adoz school, the Chauen Muslim religious institute and the creation of literacy schools for young people and adults, with the aim of generalizing the obligation to teach. In fact, he even organized a delegation of students to travel to Turkey or Egypt to continue and complete their higher studies. All this demonstrates the brilliant idea of modernizing society and his conviction that social development cannot be achieved without education.