Office of the Historian

122. Memorandum From Secretary of State Rusk to President Johnson1

Washington, February 12, 1966.

SUBJECT

  • Visit by Special Emissary of Moroccan King

You have agreed to meet briefly with His Excellency Driss M’Hammedi, Director General of the Royal Cabinet of the King of Morocco. He will be accompanied by Governor Williams, Ambassador of Morocco Laraki, and an interpreter.

Mr. M’Hammedi will probably carry a personal message from the King to you. His visit is to explain the Moroccan side of the “Ben Barka Affair”. We have asked that he not go into detail with you but reserve his exposition for a meeting with me.

The issue arose from the kidnapping in Paris last October of Mehdi Ben Barka, self-exiled leader of the leftist opposition in Morocco. He is feared dead. French police and secret agents are reportedly involved, but the French Government claims that the kidnapping was organized by [Page 181] the Moroccans, and have issued international warrants for the arrest of the Moroccan Minister of the Interior, General Oufkir. King Hassan claims the General is innocent and that the French are blaming Morocco in an attempt to whitewash their own Government’s guilt. Both governments have withdrawn their respective ambassadors. However, while French-Moroccan relations are at their lowest ebb since pre-independence Resistance days, French technical and economic assistance continues. It is still not known just what the true story is, and we do not wish to get involved, much less take sides.

Talking points are enclosed.2

Dean Rusk 3
  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, POL 7 MOR. Confidential. Drafted by Chase on February 11 and cleared by Barbour.↩
  2. Attached but not printed.↩
  3. Printed from a copy that indicates Rusk signed the original.↩