Ahmed Belbachir Haskouri (1908–1962) was a member of the Royal Court of Morocco and philanthropist during the protectorate period. His name was also transliterated as Si Hamed Ben Baxir Escuri or Escurri, Sidi Ahmed Bel Bashir Haskouri, Ahmer Ben Bazir Hasqouri, Ahamad Benbachir Scourie, Sid Ahmed Ben-El Bachil Scuri, and Ahmad Ben Bachir El Hascori.

Early life

Ahmed Belbachir Haskouri was born in Marrakesh, Morocco. Belbachir was born into an aristocratic family allied to the Alaouite dynasty of Morocco along with the Khalifa (representative of the sultan in Spanish Morocco) who were both tutored by Mohammed Daoud in the Tétouan Palace, where they grew up.

Rise to power

Belbachir decorated Mustafa el-Nahhas, the first secretary-general of the Arab League, for Khalifa autonomy. Shuqairi, the undersecretary of the Arab League, personally visited Belbachir to reinforce Spanish Morocco in the Arab League. Belbachir awarded a medal to Shuqairi. Belbachir's tenure was during the second khalifate, a period that starts two years after the death of the first Khalifa in 1923 in Spanish Morocco. During the period from 1923 to 1925, a regent was playing the role of the Khalifa. Upon the recommendation of a few potentates, such as Ben Azouz, the second son of the first Khalifa, seized the throne. Belbachir held the positions of the Chief of Staff of the Khalifa, Chief of the Civil Household, Director General of the Secretariat of the Khalifa, Secretary General of the Privy Council of the Hhalifa and Secretary General of the Makhzen. American writers Dmitri Kessel and Paul Bowles described him as "advisor to the Khalifa". In November 1949, La Ofensiva, a Spanish newspaper, referred to him as the chamberlain, receiving top officials of Franco's government in celebration of the Khalifa's throne day. During World War II, he used the Spanish government to thwart the Nazis by offering visas and passports from Spanish Morocco to the Jews.

Political ideologies

Belbachir was anti-Nazi, anti-communist, and pro-monarchist with progressive views. Belbachir was often alluded to as the "Éminence grise" of the caliph of Spanish Morocco, as conveyed in 1988 by a Moroccan historian, Abdelmajid Benjelloun. Jean Wolf, a Belgian historian, further supported the term "Éminence grise" in 1994. He was the intermediary between the Sultan Mohammed V in French Morocco and the caliph of Spanish Morocco. He was also the only negotiator between Franco and the caliph, as reported by the Spanish newspaper ABC, especially by 1956. Belbachir dissented on record in the name of the caliph; the caliph's name went down on record to that effect.

Later life

Later, he married Lalla Zoubeida Raissouni in 1950. Sadiq was also ex-finance minister of the first Khalifal government and both cousin and previous "interlocuteur" (political broker) of Mulai Ahmed er Raisuni. He was a Moroccan diplomat that was appointed by the palace rather than the Foreign Ministry to the United Kingdom. Belbachir died in London in 1962.