From the Strait of Gibraltar to the edge of the Sahara, 620 miles away, all Morocco last week seemed to be on one giant national picnic. In towns and villages, men and women sang and danced to the din of drums and the ear-splitting piping of flutes; excited children ran through the streets and watched their parents and relatives board trains and buses for the south. King Hassan II's bizarre crusade to "liberate" the Spanish Sahara (TIME. Oct. 27) was ready to begin.
Realizing that an armed invasion might well cause a war with both Spain and Algeria, Hassan had asked for 350,000 volunteers to cross the frontier, armed only with the Koran. By the end of the week, 700,000, including 70,000 women, had signed up for what Moroccan newspapers had dubbed "the Green March" (after Islam's traditional color). Doctors were still giving physical examinations to decide who was up to the arduous 15-day, 60-mile trek across a land as desolate as the moon, where temperatures at this time of year can climb as high as 113° at midday and fall to 41° at night.
Hassan had been preparing his move even before the International Court of Justice ruled that Morocco had not proved its "ties of territorial sovereignty" over the 103,000-sq.-mi. land, which has, outside of the U.S. and the U.S.S.R., perhaps 20% of the world's phosphates. All last week a fleet of nearly 8,000 trucks rumbled toward Tarfaya, Morocco's southernmost city, with cargoes that included 42,580 tons of water, food and fuel, along with blankets and tents. Overhead, army helicopters scattered back and forth watching for emergencies, as the never-ending column rolled through its own cloud of red dust. At night the motley army dozed in blankets or thick djellaba robes, with hoods pulled over their heads, and charcoal braziers glowed brick red as they brewed the omnipresent mint tea.
Divine Protection. To take care of those who fell from sun or heat stroke, the government had also commandeered 220 ambulances and recruited 470 doctors and nurses. Premier Ahmed Osman personally sent off the first contingent of 20,000—most of whom carried copies of the Koran along with soup bowls, spoons and bottle openers—from the oasis of Ksar-es-Souk. "Go then under divine protection," he said, "helped by your unshakable faith, your true patriotism and your total devotion to the guide of your victorious march, King Hassan II."
Spain is ready to give up the Sahara but has wanted the territory's 70,000 nomads to decide their fate by referendum. Madrid asked the U.N. Security Council to act to halt what it called the Moroccan invasion; the Security Council asked for moderation on all sides. At the same time, Madrid sent a special envoy, José Solis Ruiz, head of the National Movement, to Marrakech to talk to Hassan. Solis and the King are old friends, and the Spaniard said that their discussions were conducted in "an atmosphere of extraordinary friendliness." The Moroccan government said, however, that Hassan would call off the march only if Spain promised to negotiate with Morocco over the Sahara.