Abdelkrim el-Khattabi Rif War surrender negotiation Spain

On May 27, 1926, the Moroccan leader officially surrendered to French General Ibos in the city of Targuist. Facing relentless bombardment from the artillery and aviation of the two European powers, he feared betrayal within his own ranks. According to information relayed by El Debate, emissaries from the French army, led by Colonel Corap, violated bilateral agreements by entering Spanish territory. They secretly promised him Paris’s protection in exchange for unconditional capitulation.

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Before this agreement, the leader had organized a vast strategic retreat westward to reach Snada, his former headquarters. His impressive caravan included his wives, his children, and a heavily armed escort. No fewer than 270 mules transported equipment, supplies, and a veritable treasure. In these crates rang silver coins from a ransom of four million pesetas, paid in 1923 by industrialist Horacio Echevarrieta to free captives from Anoual.

The operation conducted behind Spain’s back provoked Madrid’s fury, which had even bombed Snada to try to eliminate the strategist. Spanish authorities wanted to try him for the death of at least 20,000 of their soldiers and for the dramatic detention conditions of prisoners. Of the hundreds of captives recorded, only about a hundred weakened men survived, with any wounded man unable to walk being systematically shot. To avoid summary execution, the Franco-Spanish commission ultimately sent him to the island of Réunion.

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This isolation in the Indian Ocean lasted two decades. In 1947, considering that the 64-year-old man no longer posed a threat, the French government decided to transfer him to a luxurious villa on the French Riviera. But the journey took an unexpected turn. During a stopover at the port of Port-Said, the old chief managed to disembark and claimed political asylum. Egypt accepted his request and welcomed him in Cairo, where Abdelkrim el-Khattabi spent his final days in February 1963, at the age of 80.