Morocco bids farewell to veteran politician Boucetta
RABAT // The co-founder of Morocco’s oldest political party, Al Istiqlal, which played a key role in the country’s independence from France and Spain, has died at the age of 92.
M’hamed Boucetta, a threetime minister and chief of Istiqlal for more than two decades, passed away at his home in Rabat on Friday evening after a long illness.
He will be buried today in Marrakech, his birthplace.
Born in 1925, Boucetta became involved in politics as a student, when Morocco was still under colonial rule.
He studied law at the Sorbonne University in France and set up his own law firm in Casablanca at the age of 25 before going into politics full time.
Istiqlal, which means independence, played a major role in Morocco’s freedom from colonisation. Boucetta was involved in the party from its formation in the 1940s and was elected secretary general in 1974.
He also served as foreign minister in the early 1980s before quitting Istiqlal’s top post in 1998, and held two other cabinet portfolios.