The Resistance of Ouled Sidi Cheikh
1. introduction:
Ouled Sidi Cheikh went through a violent resistance while defending their homes and country. After drawing the borders between Algeria and Morocco, under the treaty of Lalla Meghnia, many tribes located in the region have been separated, like the tribe of Ouled Sidi Cheikh. France also succeeded in luring Se Hamza Ben Abou Bekr, leader of the east division in Ouled Sidi Cheikh, by Assigning him as the Caliph of the Algerian south in 1850.
The Caliph showed loyalty to France and put his power at her service. However, they did not trust him because of his status among the Saharan tribes, so they called him to the capital Algiers for interrogation, citing the complaints of the inhabitants. But he died on August 15, 1861. The French stated that his wife poisoned him, they replaced him with his oldest son Boubekr in the position of Bachaaga, which is lower than a Caliph. But shortly after, he was also poisoned by his followers on July 22, 1862.
France appointed Se Sulaiman Ben Hamza in the place of his brother Boubeker. And they removed Se zoubir from the Aga position in Ouargla because of his chronic illness; and assigned in his place his brother Se Laala Ben Boubeker, who was convinced that the death of Se Hamza and his son Boubekr was plotted by the French authorities. He started to incite his nephew Se Sliman to fight colonialism and take advantage of some factors like: France’s withdrawal of some of its forces from the southwest to support its military movements in Mexico and Indochina.
2. Reasons Behind the Resistance of Ouled Sidi Cheikh:
- French colonialism pursued its expansion and power projection mission in many ways, like taking advantage of the power of Ouled Sidi cheikh’s family to penetrate the south. When the leaders became aware of the danger of this strategy, they confronted them and announced the Jihad.
The religious, political, and economic factors accelerated the outbreak of the resistance, can be summarized as follows:
- Rejecting colonization, which is the core reason behind every resistance.
- Burdening the inhabitants with taxes to destroy them financially and impoverishing them.
- France’s policy of “ divide and conquer” by disrupting the unity of their lines.
- France’s attempts to undermine the power of Se Sulaiman and limit his influence.
During these situations, Se Sulaiman addressed his family and confirmed that the French who poisoned his father Hamza and brother Boubeker will not hesitate to do the same to him. That is why he has to get ready and start preparing to announce the Jihad.
- The main reason goes back to the insult faced by Se Fadeel and some members of the Ouled Sidi Cheikh family in El-Bayadh square by the officer of the Arabic office on 29 January 1864.
3. The Phases of the Resistance:
The First Phase: 1864-1867
Jihad was announced by Se Sulaiman when the marabout leaders, and a considerable number of followers agreed with him. He assigned Se Fadeel with the missions of recruitment and contacting the tribes; and the followers of the Bousheikian path who were scattered all over the desert.
On 08 April 1864, the resistance broke out with an invasion of the French army’s camp on the hill of Ouina Boubeker east El-Bayadh; This caused confusion and panic within the French forces. Se Sulaiman attacked colonel Beaupret and killed him But, he faced the same fate at the hands of the French soldiers.
This victory had a positive impact on the tribes that were quick to join the resistance, especially after the fall of several French Officers, to mention a few: colonel Beaupret and captain Isnard, The Arabic office captain and translator Cabissot, The Spahis captain Thibault with his lieutenant Perrin, sniper’s lieutenant Beaupied.
After the martyrdom of Se Sulaiman Ben Hamza, Se Mohammed was recognized as the leader because of his young age he asked his uncles Se Zoubie And Se Laala for help. This leader was known for his activeness and statesmanship in managing the confrontation with his recruitment skills. The resistance had been strengthened when the tribe of Ouled Chaib of the Boghar province joined, led by Aga Naimi Ouled Jedid with around 500 knights, on April 17. After their unalarmed attack on a French camp that was used to spy and collect intel on the mujahideen movements, they killed lieutenant Ben Ruilla, two French officers, and 11 Spahis. In the light of these developments, General Yussuf quickly stationed a brigade in Boghar to control the rebel tribes and calm the situation.
The most famous battles of Se Mohammed Ben Hamza, the battle of Ben Hattab against the French legion, headed to El-Bayadh led by general Martineau on 26 April 1864.
On 13 May 1864, the battle of Stitten took place between the resistance of Se Mohammed and the enemy’s forces led by General Delingy; many mujahideen were martyred, which pushed Se Mohammed to retreat to the south. General Delingy managed to retaliate against the unarmed inhabitants.
The mujahideen took advantage of the hot weather to attack the French centers and discipline the pro-colonial tribes. So they attacked Frenda on 12 July 1864 to punish the traitors however, the french authorities reinforced it’s centers by preparing five battalions, squad of general Logrand and Delingy- Martinio general Jollifie’s squad. This did not stop the attack led by Se Mohammed on the squad of general Jollifie in Ain Beida on 30 September 1864, and left extensive losses.
That’s why the French government instructed general Delingy and general Yussuf to break the siege on these regions and assigned Shanzie to pursue the mujahideen.
General Delingy camped in El-Bayadh to besiege the patriotes resistance and survey their movements. Then the Sidi Cheikh’s raid started on 4 February 1865, where Se Mohammed Ben Hamza was wounded; he mayrterd from his wounds on 22 February of the same year. He was succeeded by his brother Se Ahmed son of Hamza; due to his young age Se Bouzid took over the mission of organizing the resistance during 1865. The year 1866 witnessed many confrontations and battles, where colonel De Colombe stood out; he accomplished many victories due to his experience and knowledge of the Saharan regions, the most significant one being the battle of Chellala in April 1866.
The second Phase:
The last defeats did not affect the will of Ouled Sidi Cheikh to continue the resistance. But rather, the mujahideen of the south and the Algerian Borders adhered to going back to fighting through hit and run; to defeat the big colonial forces that cannot be repelled by direct confrontations.
The period between 1867-1869 was a time of drought and witnessed consecutive crises of famine and epidemics plus locust migration. Which led to the death of many families, but it did not stop the resistance, it continued less frequently from the borders.
Following the death of Se Ahmed bin Hamza in October 1868, in Tafilalt. He was succeeded by Se Kadour Ben Hamza, who managed to unite Ouled Sidi Cheikh and organize the resistance. Under his reign, the Battle of Oum Debdeb took place near Ain Madhi in February 1869, with the victory of the enemy who further reinforced his forces in the region. So many expeditions were sent like the "Wimpfen", which was able on March 19 to strike the Hamian tribe. The turn of events in France and Europe reflected positively on the resistance, in particular, after Paris's defeat to Prussia in 1870, the fall of the imperial regime, and the emergence of the Third French Republic, and encouraged it to continue. One of the most famous battles is the battle of Magoura on 17 April 1871, more than 200 fighters were martyred. However, it could not keep up with the resistance of Mokrani and Cheikh al-Haddad. On 23 December, General Osimant followed Commander Se Kadour Ben Hamza, who bravely broke through the ranks of the French forces, towards the hill and hit him at the site of Mikbu, so he fled to the south with his uncle Se Laala. This battle is considered the knockdown move, being the last of Sidi Cheikh Cheraga's battles against the French occupation.
