Morocco was the first country to recognise the U.S., Obama

Morocco was the first country to recognise the United States, U.S. President Barack Obama said in his first speech to the Arab and Muslim World.

   "The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco," Obama said in the speech that he delivered Thursday from the University of Cairo.

   Indeed, on February 20, 1778, Sultan sidi Mohamed recognized the independence of the United States. Eight years later, on June 23, 1786, a friendship treaty between the two countries was concluded in Marrakech, Morocco.

   Signed between Sultan Sidi Mohamed and the U.S. consul in Paris, Thomas Barday, the treaty found its true meaning in 1797 when the first American consul settled in Tangier. The first treaty was updated in 1836 in Meknes, Morocco, under the reign of Sultan Moulay Abderrahmane.

   By the end of the 19th century, the United States officially and solemnly declared solidarity with Morocco against the colonial intentions of certain European powers.

   To this end, President Theodore Roosvelt took a number of initiatives by refusing to recognise the French protectorate on Morocco. The United States kept, therefore, the specific rights provided for by the 1836 treaty.

   In 1943, an historic summit took place in Casablanca (Conference of Anfa), which gathered President Franklin D. Roosvelt, British PM, Churchill, French General, Henri Giraud, and the late king Mohammed V.

   The commitment of the U.S. for the independence of Morocco was proclaimed in 1953 from the U.N. headquarters. U.S. ambassador, Henry Cadot Lodge stated that: “What we want to do, is to voice the hope that France and Morocco will take the path towards the achievement of the aspirations of the Moroccan people.”

   The aspirations of the Moroccan people came true when Morocco obtained its independence in 1955.

MAP