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The former Algerian Defense Minister, Khaled Nezzar, preferres to commemorate in his own way the 17th anniversary of the passing of King Hassan II. The retired general who never really left the political scene chose to reveal to the conservative daily newspaper, «Echourouk», the content of a conversation he had with the late monarch in June 1993.
During that year, another diplomatic crisis emerged between Rabat and Algiers. This time it wasn’t about the Western Sahara’s conflict, but about a person that was known to both countries. His name is Abdelhak Layada, the military leader of the Armed Islamic Group (GIA), one of the two main Islamist insurgents groups that fought the Algerian government and army amid the Algerian Civil War. In 1993, he had fled his country to seek refuge in the Kingdom, precisely in Oujda.
Nezzar explains that his country demanded Layada’s head. To do so, he decided to contact the former Moroccan Interior Minister, Driss Basri, to discuss handing Algeria over the extremist, convicted in absentia.
King Hassan II agrees to hand over Layada
According to the general, King Hassan II asked him to come to the royal palace to discuss Ladaya’s case. Nezzar points out that his meeting, which lasted for two hours, took place in a modestly furnished king’s office. The discussion according to the official was mostly about the Algerian position regarding the territorial dispute of Western Saraha but without recording any progress.
By the end of their meeting, King Hassan II ordered his Interior Minister to take the necessary procedures to hand over Layada to Algeria. On September the 29th, 1993, the military leader of the GIA was officially handed over to the Algerian security services. He was later imprisoned for twelve years in Serkadji prison located in the Algerian capital.
It must be admitted that Morocco has never planned to benefit from the chaotic political situation that followed the dismissal of President Chadli Benjdid in Algeria on the 11th of January 1992 and the suspension of the electoral process. This was confirmed when Rabat refused to assist of the Islamic Salvation Front which left Algeria seeking refuge in Morocco.
Regarding Layada, he was released from prison on the 12th of March 2006, taking advantage of a presidential grace granted by President Bouteflika within the framework of a National Reconciliation program. Layada then led a normal life changing his radical beliefs and managing a sales business.
The Moroccan-Algerian cooperation was later interrupted following the terrorist attack that targeted Asni hotel in Marrakech in 1994.
