Interview footnote by Anouar Majid becomes top front page story in Morocco's largest Arabic daily

During a visit to Morocco in May, Anouar Majid, Ph.D., UNE vice president for global affairs, was interviewed by the investigative reporter Mohamed Asaadi for Almassae, the largest Arabic daily in Morocco, in relation to a special report on American-Moroccan relations.

In the interview, Majid mentioned an account of 19th century Morocco by the American political scientist Graham H. Stuart in a 1945 issue of Foreign Affairs. In his article, Stuart said that the American Legation in Tangier contains a record of the Moroccan Sultan Moulay Mohammed ibn Abderrahmane preferring an American mandate over his nation (instead of succumbing to European colonialism). This footnote of an observation became a major headline in the Moroccan newspaper, pictured at right.

The interview also covered the history of early Moroccan explorers to what later became the United States, a discussion of African slaves and their descendants who were mistakenly thought of as Moroccan, an account of American sailors rescued by a Moroccan trader in the early 19th century, the influence of U.S. troops in Morocco during the 1940s and 50s on Moroccan culture, and more. The photo on the 2nd page of the newspaper is one of Majid with President George H. W. Bush taken a few years ago at the University of New England.