World of the Koran: Islam Uber Alles
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the "Lion of Morocco." This famous leader of the Riff mountain tribes repulsed the combined assaults of the French and
Spanish for six years before he was finally forced to surrender.
He was then exiled for more than twenty years on Reunion
Island in the Indian Ocean. Abd el Krim was now in Cairo.
The story of his "escape" from exile—portrayed as a romantic adventure by British writers—was as a matter of cold
fact the outcome of an anti-French plot hatched in the Maghreb and Middle East Offices. Here's how it happened:
In May 1947, the French decided to transfer Abd el Krim
to the Riviera. The French plan was to play him against the
Sultan of French Morocco, championed by the British. As
the ship carrying the Riff hero rounded the British protectorate of Aden, British agents informed the Maghreb Office
in Cairo. The Maghreb puppets sprang into action. They
clambered on board and urged him to jump ship immediately. .