NORTH AFRICA: On the Road from Morocco

(2 of 3)

Twinkling Lights. As the marchers neared the dissuasion line, Moroccan gendarmes told them to halt. The weary walkers fanned out along the side of the road and began preparing campsites; old men started chipping away at their sugar loaves in anticipation of the tea that would soon be brewing. When night fell, lights could be seen twinkling in the opposing camps, as on the eve of some great medieval battle. On the Moroccan side, dinners were being cooked and tea brewed over thousands of tiny brushwood fires that were also providing some warmth from the desert cold. In the Spanish camp, some of the lights were also fires; others were the headlamps of heavy armored vehicles patrolling the plateau. Although fatigued by the day's hot, dusty trek, the Moroccans nonetheless were in very high spirits and sang and danced late into the night. Trucks had brought them ample supplies of water, as well as crates of dates and canned tuna and mackerel, typifying the remarkably efficient logistics that have been characteristic of the entire march.

King Hassan had originally boasted that he would lead his people into the Sahara but suddenly had second thoughts. Declaring that the "duty of a chief is to remain at the command post of the nation," he stayed at his vacation villa in Agadir and sent Premier Osman in his place. The monarch was able to offer the marchers plenty of verbal encouragement. "Greet every Spaniard you meet, and ask him to enter your tent and share your rations," he exhorted. "We do not want any blood to flow. If they fire on you, advance peacefully." Spanish officials in the colony, however, warned that the Moroccans could indeed encounter fire. "You can be sure the march will end at the exact military border, where we have set up our operations center," cautioned Lieut. General Federico GÓmez de Salazar, Spain's military commander in the Sahara. "If they go just one yard farther, they will be met by terrible minefields."

The march took place in the midst of a week of frantic diplomatic activity aimed at reconciling the opposing sides: Morocco, which has historic claims to the phosphate-rich colony, and socialist Algeria, which wants to prevent the colony from falling into the hands of Hassan, a semifeudal reactionary in Algerian eyes. Spain is caught in the middle. Having ruled the 103,000-sq.-mi. colony and its 70,000 nomads for 91 years, it is more than willing to give up administrative responsibilities for the area and thus avoid the kind of bloody colonial war that drained Portugal's resources (see story page 41).

Madrid at first appeared willing to accept a Moroccan takeover of the Sahara; in return, the Spaniards hoped to keep a share of the lucrative phosphate-mining industry, which Spain has developed at a cost of more than $447 million. Bowing to Algerian and United Nations pressure, Spain decided to oppose Hassan's occupation of the colony. To dramatize this new stance—and possibly to build up his image at home as a forceful leader—Spain's acting Chief of State Prince Juan Carlos flew to Aaiūn for a visit with the commanders of the 15,000 troops based there. "Spain will meet its promises and try to maintain peace," said the Prince.