Survived a violent coup attempt

On 14 July 1971, Stuart Rockwell, the US Ambassador to Morocco, visited King Hassan’s palace at Skhirat to attend the annual celebration of the King’s birthday. All heads of diplomatic missions and ‘the notables of the realm’ were typically invited and expected to attend.

The party got off to a good start, but unknown to him, a full-blown military coup attempt that would lead to the deaths of almost 100 guests, including the Belgian ambassador, was underway.

At 14:08 (GMT), the palace was attacked with automatic weapons and grenades by up to 1,400 cadets from the Ahermoumou military training academy. The attack was led by Lieutenant-Colonel M’hamed Ababou, who, along with General Mohamed Medbouh, Inspector General of the Moroccan Royal Guard and head of the Royal Military Cabinet, was one of the main organisers of the coup attempt. The cadets involved in the attack were misled into believing that his guards had kidnapped the King, hence the need to rescue him.

Time magazine reported that “Rockwell was strolling toward Hassan” when ‘he saw a guest in front of him topple to the floor, blood gushing from his leg.’ Stockwell and the other guests were subsequently ushered outside the palace by the rebel soldiers and made to lie on their faces at gunpoint for two hours while the loyalists battled the rebels. Meanwhile, as other guests fled to the nearby beach, the King, his family, and aides concealed themselves in a small pavilion beside the palace’s swimming pool. The King was eventually rescued.

The coup attempt led to 278 deaths, including 98 civilian guests in Shkirat, 158 rebel cadets and 20 loyalist soldiers. Some of the prominent dignitaries who were killed included Ahmed Bahnini, the former prime minister of Morocco and Marcel Dupret, Belgium’s ambassador to Morocco. The Syrian ambassador was also wounded.

Among the rebels, both General Mohamed Medbouh, Inspector General of the Moroccan Royal Guard, and Lieutenant-Colonel M’hamed Ababou, the leaders of the attempt, were killed on the same day. Three days later, ten high-ranking officers were executed without trial, and their executions were filmed and broadcast on national television. They also faced the ultimate Arab dishonor when members of the armed forces spat on their corpses.

Stuart Wesson Rockwell was born in New York City, New York, on January 15, 1917. He graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in Romance languages in 1939. On March 17, 1970, he was appointed by President Nixon as Ambassador to Morocco, where he experienced two coup attempts before being recalled on October 1, 1973. He also served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs and Deputy Chief of Mission to Iran. Rockwell retired in 1979 as Deputy Chief of Protocol and died on March 12, 2011.