The meeting in Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa

Next the Friends of Iligh repaired to the municipal building for a meeting during which different presentations would be given. As the 'Reunion' was financed by the Governate of Tiznit Aisha and Bert had to comply with certain demands from high up. One of them was that the Alderman for culture of Tiznit Ahmed Boumzegou would also give a presentation. Apparently he had done his phd on 'Iligh'. Boumzegou had not been particularly helpful when Aisha and Bert had ran up and down the stairs in the Governor's palace in search of support. They both had taken a dislike to him. However in the morning before we set off for Sidi Ahmed Ou Mousa word came that Boumzegou suddenly had to go to Rabat. In his stead came a man in a baseball cap. This man insisted that he gave the first presentation right after the introduction by Bert and by the Mayor. His talk was about documents from the archive of Iligh that had proven beyond doubt that Morocco's claim on Western Sahara the former Spanish colony was legit. The claim was never recognized by the international community. The take-over was engineered by General Franco just before his death and king Hassan II. The story goes that one day a helicopter landed in Iligh with people a.o. a minister who demanded of Houcine Aboudmiaa the then ruler of Iligh to hand over the relevant documents. It is unclear to me when this took place and how the authorities in Rabat knew the documents existed. Did Houcine tell them or did they know from El Soussy the historian who died in the mid sixties and who wrote extensively about 'Iligh' in Arabic (never translated). One thing is certain: the documents never came back.I didn't know all this when I made this sketch otherwise the usurper would have been prominent in the drawing. From left to right: Paul Dahan, Manoubi Abdelmjid the Mayor, Bert, Aisha in Hajib and on the phone, Abdullah El Mountassir, and the two Sufi dignitaries from the Zaouia: Moulay El Mahfoud and Moulay Houcine El Ourari.In the background a very large poster of king Mohammed VI.

The Friends of Iligh and the Governor of Tiznit

Once in Tiznit I became aware of the enormous achievement that Aisha and Bert had brought about for the comfort of the Friends of Iligh. They had persuaded the Directorate of the Province of Tiznit to rent the Tiznit Hotel for our group for three nights including breakfast and supper. Not only that but the Directorate also provided transport and lunch. They had taken care of the design and printed posters and a folder with relevant information. Of course the Aboudmiaas were once a powerful family in the region and their history is closely tied to that of the Province, but still... Bert is a total stranger without any connections whatsoever. She is not sponsored or endorsed by a government, university or organization. I'm totally impressed! After checking in and dropping off the luggage in the hotel, we were taken to the palace of the Governor to be formally introduced. That happened in one of those great reception rooms that you see all over the Islamic world: seats along the walls, little tables close to the seats and a great big empty space in the middle. The Governor who was accompanied by the mayor of the town and a secretary general was affable and vaguely interested. I didn't get the impression that he exactly knew what he was in for. But his interest became peaked when he realized who was in attendance. In the meantime servants were offering a variety of drinks and sweets. I'm usually all for it, but now I felt that it was more for the intent than the partaking so I did take a bit but left it on the plate. After the introduction Aisha gave a short presentation. The Governor then mumbled some politenesses and that was it.

'Friends of Iligh'

In the winter of 2017/2018 Bert Hogervorst and Aicha Aboudmiaa started to organize a 'Reunion des Amis d'Iligh' (a reunion of the friends of Iligh) that had to take place in Iligh in March 2018. The aim was to bring the experts to the 'Museum' of Aicha's father Imam Aboudmiaa. There the 'coffres' (travel boxes)with the old and secret documents of the family would open and the content be revealed. Or at least that was the intention. The experts could then assess the state the documents were in, the level of deterioration, the language in which they were written and the identity of the writers. Or at least they would get a general idea to be able to judge the next steps. Aicha and Bert worked very hard to get an impressive list of participants together. But they ran into a couple of problems. The most important being: where to put up the guests? A stay in Iligh was not an option and the organizers had no funds to spent on accommodation. Aicha decided to make it political: the importance of Amazigh heritage as a tool to battle Islamist radicalism. Bert and Aicha set out to make the 'Reunion d'Amis d'Iligh' the responsibility of the Governor of the Province of Tiznit.