1908 - 1990

Moroccan nationalist; prime minister in 1958.

Ahmed Balafrej earned degrees from Cairo University and the Sorbonne in Paris. Active in Rabat and Paris among student groups for reform and nationalism (Morocco was under French and Spanish protectorate from 1912), he founded the newspaper Maghrib in 1932. In 1943, he cofounded the Istiqlal political party. Following independence in 1956, and as secretary-general of Istiqlal, he was made foreign minister. In 1958, he became prime minister, a post from which he resigned in December of that year. By the late 1960s, Balafrej was largely inactive politically.

Bibliography

Ashford, Douglas. Political Change in Morocco. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1961.

Hahn, Lorna. North Africa: Nationalism to Nationhood. Washington, DC: Public Affairs Press, 1960.

Pennell, C. R. Morocco since 1830: A History. New York: New York University Press, 2000.

— MATTHEW S. GORDON

Encyclopedia of the Modern Middle East and North Africa. Copyright © 2004 by The Gale Group, Inc. All rights reserved.