Ahmed al-Hiba

Ahmed al-Hiba (d. 1919), leader of armed resistance to the French colonial power in the Western Sahara, and pretender to the sultanate of Morocco. In English texts he is usually named simply El Hiba, meaning the stork.

He was the son of Ma al-'Aynayn, a religious leader in the region of Smara, a town in the Western Sahara close to the Moroccan border. Ma al-'Aynayn led an armed uprising against the French in the first decade of the twentieth century. Shortly after his death, in 1912 the French imposed the Treaty of Fez on the Moroccans and took virtual control of the country. Ma al-'Aynayn's son al-Hiba then decided that this effectively vacated the position of Sultan of Morocco, and proclaimed himself Sultan at Tiznit, as his father had done before him.

A general uprising in the south of Morocco saw al-Hiba recognized as Sultan in Taroudant, Agadir and the Dades and Draa regions. He gained a powerful ally in Si Madani, head of the Glaoua family who were then out of favour with the real Sultan. With his tribal army he entered Marrakech on 18 August 1912 and was proclaimed Sultan there also.

A decisive battle with the French took place at Sidi Bou Othman near Marrakech on 6 September 1912. al-Hiba's forces were defeated by the French commanded by Charles Mangin, with the loss of some 2000 tribal warriors. In January 1913, the Glaoua family, now allied with the French, drove al-Hiba back to the Sous.

al-Hiba did not give up the struggle and continued to harass the French in his own area until his death on 23 June 1919 in Kerdous (Anti-Atlas). His struggle was carried on by his brother Merebbi Rebbu.

References

José Ramón Diego Aguirre, El Oscuro Pasado del Desierto. Approximación a la Historia del Sáhara. Casa de África, Madrid, 2004. ISBN 84-95498-64-2.