Rabat, Morocco (TMT)– King Mohammed VI visited the 92-year-old former opposition leader Abderrahmane Youssoufi in a local hospital in Casablanca as this latter is currently suffering from a bad cold with respiratory complications.
The Moroccan monarch’s visit lasted for around 15 minutes.
King Mohammed VI kissed Abderrahmane, the former leader of the Socialist Union of Popular Forces (well known in Morocco under its French acronym USFP), on the top of his head, breaking with the Moroccan protocol to honor the man who lived in a self-imposed exile in Paris for a period of fifteen years and was arrested twice under the late king Hassan II’s rule (1959 and 1963), including having spent two years in prison as a political prisoner.
Abderrahmane was very pleased by King Mohammed VI’s visit, who was joined by his close friend and advisory Fouad Ali El Himma.
Youssoufi is given credit for helping Morocco go through a smooth transition following the death of King Hassan II on July 23, 1999 and the ascension of King Mohammed VI to the throne of the Cherifien kingdom.
On 4 February 1998, Youssoufi was named Prime Minister of Morocco, a post he held until October 2002.
The Moroccan Times.
