New Rif Independence Party Seeks UN Support to Separate from Morocco

Present in several European countries, the PNR has four objectives, according to Aziz Agrawli, its spokesperson. In an interview with El Español, he explains that the party aims to "give a political perspective to the Rif people and represent our just cause in the world", to "defend the political, economic, cultural and human rights of the Rif people worldwide", to "bring the Moroccan occupier and other countries responsible for the criminal acts committed against the Rif people to justice" and to "revive the Republic of the Rif Tribes created in 1921".

The PNR filed a dossier on the Rif War with the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on October 27, accusing the French and Spanish colonists of having committed "war crimes" in complicity with the Moroccans in the 1920s. "At the time, the Rif was a sovereign independent country. So we are talking about war crimes that were committed there, the use of chemical weapons which was nevertheless prohibited internationally. The Rif people are still suffering from it," denounces Agrawli.

For these reasons, the PNR is demanding reparations from Spain and also from France. The party is also asking for the support of the international community to obtain the independence of the Rif, denouncing the "arrests, systematic displacements and assassinations" of Rif men and women by the Moroccan authorities. After recently exchanging with members of the ruling party in South Africa, a country it considers "a model of liberation and development", the PNR will work to get as many people as possible to join its cause.

But not all Rif people support this cause. "The legitimacy it may have in the Rif is questionable, as it does not have fundamental political actors in the current political landscape of the region," notes Reda Benzaza, former spokesman for the Hirak of the Rif. Sources close to the Moroccan intelligence services claim that the PNR has financial support "from the United States, Canada, Germany, Belgium, France, and the Scandinavian countries". For its part, "Algeria is putting pressure on other countries like Guinea and Angola to recognize this political party as the legitimate spokesman for the Rif people".