Draft:Mohamed ben abderrahmane saadani

Mohamed Saadani was from a very young age a fervent nationalist of the first order. At the very young age of fourteen he was imprisoned for his anti-colonist sentiments which resulted in him contracting tuberculosis which resulted in the loss of one lung,which severely impaired his health for the rest of his working life. He was a member of the provisional executive committee of the Istiqlal party as well as being the youngest signataire of the manifestation of independence of 11 january 1944. He obtained a master's degree from the University of Cairo in the early fifties and went on to obtain a PHd from Fitzwilliam college,university of Cambridge in 1957. He had the distinction of being the first Moroccan to obtain a PHd degree from cambridge university. In the late fifties,he joined the newly created diplomatic corps where he served under Moulay Hassan Bel Mehdi the then ambassador to the United Kingdom. After a short spell in the Foreign Ministry,he was appointed ambassador to the newly independent state of Nigeria,where he cultivated long and lasting friendships which were to play a pivotal role in the years to come regarding Nigeria's support for Morocco's territorial claims in the sahara. On the completion of his mission,he returned to the Foreign office,where he was appointed head of the African division. In 1967 he was appointed ambassador to Pakistan and Malaysia,a post which he held for almost eight years.Upon his return he was appointed head of the middle-east division in the Foreign office. In the early eighties he was once again appointed ambassador to Nigeria,where his long lasting friendships with the political elite were called upon to muster support for Morocco's territorial claims in the sahara. He retired in 1986 and died peacefully on the 23rd of February 2002 in Rabat ,Morocco.