| Intro | Moroccan politician |
| Is | Politician |
| From | Morocco |
| Type | Politics |
| Gender | male |
| Birth |
1 November 1951, El Aaiún |
| Age | 69 years |
Khalihenna Ould Errachid (Arabic: خلي هنا ولد الرشيد, name also transliterated from Arabic as Khalihenna Wald Al Rasheed and other variations) is the Sahrawi chairman of the Royal Advisory Council for Saharan Affairs (CORCAS), a Moroccan government body active in the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara.
Under Spain
A member of an influential family in the Reguibat tribe, Khalihenna Ould Errachid was appointed by the Spanish government to head the Sahrawi National Union Party (PUNS) in 1974. The PUNS, which had been created with the approval of the Spanish authorities, was the only legal political party in Spanish Sahara (also in the whole Spain, except the ruling Falange movement) in the 1974-75 period, had been created to counter the territorial claims from neighbours Morocco and Mauritania, as well as the indigenous independence movement headed by the Polisario Front, created in 1973. It initially advocated autonomy for the territory under continued Spanish colonial rule, but, as the Spanish position evolved, the party and its leader, Khalihenna Ould Errachid, started demanding independence “in association” with Spain, proclaiming themselves completely opposed to Moroccan and Mauritanian designs on the territory.
In April 1975, during a press conference in Paris, Ould Errachid stated:
Under Morocco
Under Hassan II
During the United Nations visiting mission to Spanish Sahara in May–June 1975, and before the Madrid Agreement, Khalihenna Ould Errachid fled from El Aaiún to Las Palmas, and then take another plane to Morocco. Few days after, on May 19, Khalihenna Ould Errachid declared his allegiance to the King of Morocco in Fez. Several sources claimed that he left Western Sahara with between 160,000 and 6,000,000 pesetas from the PUNS cash office. Under King Hassan II, he was appointed in 1977 as Minister of Saharan Affairs, and later as mayor (President of the Municipal Council) of El-Aaiun from 1983 until 2006, when he was succeeded by his brother, Moulay Hamdi Ould Errachid.
He was viewed as very close to the King’s right-hand man, the minister of interior Driss Basri,[1] who held responsibility for the Saharan territories, where Polisario waged a guerrilla war against Morocco until the 1991 cease-fire (still in effect, pending final resolution of the conflict). Following the death of Hassan in 1999, and the dismissal of Basri by the new king Muhammad VI a few years later, Khelli Henna’s political career seemed to be over.[2]transl.
Under Mohammed VI
In 2006, King Mohammed VI created the CORCAS to promote autonomy as an alternative to the referendum that was agreed by both parts in the Settlement Plan. As head of the royal organ, Khalihenna Ould Errachid made a public comeback, and has featured prominently in Moroccan diplomacy. He is seen by the Moroccan government as an independent Sahrawi leader opposed to the Polisario Front independence movement, and its longtime leader Mohamed Abdelaziz.
Khalihenna Ould Errachid considers the Polisario Front as an obstacle to a peaceful solution due to what he saw as deep dependency on Algeria. The Polisario refuses to deal with him.
In 2008, the Casablanca-based newspaper “Al Yarida Al Ula” publisher the transcription of 2005 Rachid’s declaration to the Equity and Reconciliation Commission:
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