Morocco prince enthroned after death of strongman Hassan

The longest reigning Arab monarch, King Hassan II of Morocco, died yesterday two weeks after his 70th birthday. His son, Crown Prince Sidi Mohammed (36), was formally enthroned within hours. State-run television showed senior officials and army commanders signing a book of allegiance and kissing the new king's hand or shoulder in a show of respect. The king will be buried tomorrow.

The death of the Moroccan ruler who succeeded his much loved father, Mohammed V, in 1961, occurred at a time when the North African kingdom of 29 million was slowly moving towards a form of democracy.

King Hassan was taken to the Avicennes hospital in the capital, Rabat, with acute pneumonia early in the day and died about 6.30 p.m.

Only two weeks ago, he was the honoured guest of President Jacques Chirac of France on Bastille day, when 400 troops from the Royal Moroccan Guard became the first soldiers from a former French protectorate to participate in the annual military parade.

King Hassan appeared wan and tired at the ceremony. Unlike the case in neighbouring Algeria, with whom he maintained tense relations, King Hassan had the good fortune of ruling a country which had not been torn apart by a colonial war. Morocco, which was a protectorate rather than a part of France like Algeria, gained independence under Mohammed V in 1956. King Hassan once told King Juan Carlos of Spain: "When I assumed the throne, people said I would not last more than six months." The most fierce challenge to his rule was a mutiny by his own armed forces led by General Oufkir in 1972.

The king dealt mercilessly with the army conspirators, sending them and their families to the infamous Tazmamart prison where they were tortured and starved. A left-wing revolt in the following year was put down just as brutally. Yet Hassan II drew authority - and even affection - from his status as a defender of the Prophet Muhammad and amir al-moumineen (commander of the faithful). In an autobiographical book entitled The Challenge, he wrote: "Moroccans need a popular monarch who governs. That is why the King governs in Morocco. The people would not understand if the King did not govern."

King Hassan gained favour in Washington by helping to facilitate the 1978 Camp David accord between Israel and Egypt. After the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian accord, he was the first Arab head of state to establish tentative, low level ties with Israel.

Bowing to western pressure, he freed more than 800 political prisoners in the early 1990s and commuted 195 death sentences. A 1995 constitutional referendum created a two-chamber parliament, and last year Mr Abderrahmane Youssoufi, a lawyer earlier imprisoned by King Hassan, became Morocco's first freely elected prime minister. The palace retained control over security and foreign policy. Dozens of Islamist activists remain imprisoned and King Hassan's death raises an excruciating question: without his authority will Morocco be able to escape the sort of instability that has nearly destroyed neighbouring Algeria?

The other great uncertainty facing Prince Sidi Mohammed is the future of the Western Sahara. In one of the world's longest-running wars, Morocco has for the past 20 years claimed the Western Sahara as its own territory, while Polisario guerrillas backed by Algiers still demand independence. United Nations efforts to hold a referendum have broken down.