He was born in Algeria to a Kabyle family of renown Caids. He later became a teacher under French protectorate, and the most Moroccan of all Algerian artists.
By settling thousands of inhabitants of Western Sahara in the Tindouf camps, Algeria has only materialized a project dating from 1967. It aimed at making the city a capital of the Sahrawis.
In 2023, the United States became more active in the conflict in Western Sahara. The regional context, marked by the arrival of new actors in the Sahel and West Africa, and the shortcomings of the UN in relaunching the political process, forced Washington to revise its strategy.