- published: 29 Aug 2015
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The Oujda group or Oujda clan was a gathering of military officers and politicians in Algeria, during its War of Independence (1954-62) and until approximately the 1970s.
The Oujda group was formed around Col. Houari Boumédiène, posted in the Moroccan town of Oujda. He would later become chief of staff in the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN), which was the armed wing of the Front de Libération Nationale (FLN), the main nationalist organization fighting French colonial control over Algeria.
As chief of staff, Boumédiène entered into conflict with the FLN's government-in-exile, the GPRA, which towards the end of the war attempted to dismiss him. He then supported an alliance of FLN politicians against the GPRA's provisional post-independence government, and marched the ALN towards Algiers to occupy it. Ahmed Ben Bella became president, and Boumédiène minister of defense. In this role Boumédiène continued to exercise a powerful influence over the regime, through the Algerian army. To secure his grip over the army, he began promoting and supporting his old friends and colleagues of the Oujda years. These men and their entourage became known as the Oujda group, forming a powerful pro-Boumédiène faction within the political and military ranks of the one-party state, but in their turn dependent on him for their positions.
Oujda (Arabic: وجدة) is a city in eastern Morocco with an estimated population of 1 million. The city is located about 15 kilometers west of Algeria and about 60 kilometers south of the Mediterranean Sea. It is the capital of the Oriental Region of Morocco and the birthplace of the current Algerian president, Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The urban area of Oujda has a beach called Saidia.
There is some evidence of a settlement during the Roman occupation, which seems to have been under the control of Berbers rather than Romans.
Uqba ibn Nafi began the Arab conquest of the region, during the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate, a conquest which was completed in AD 705 by Musa bin Nusair. The modern city was founded in 994 by Ziri ibn Atiyya, king of the Zenata tribes. Further additions were made in 1048.
In the mid 11th century, Oujda acquired prominence through its strategic position on the road east from Sijilmasa. Throughout the history of the dynasties of the Muslim West, Oujda played an important strategic role among the Merinids, settled in Fes, in this case as a rear base in their conflict with the Abdalwadids of Tlemcen.