Symbolic Journey

Strolling through a trade fair in Casablanca two years ago. Morocco's King Mohammed V paused before a model of a DC-6 airliner, sighed longingly: "One day I shall return." "Return where, Your Majesty?" asked an aide. "To Madagascar, of course," replied the King.

Madagascar seemed the last place the King would want to see again. It is the Indian Ocean island to which the French had exiled the then Sultan in 1953, and kept him isolated for two years until his triumphal return to preside over Morocco's independence.

But measured against the birth pains of creating a new nation, the years of exile have assumed a sentimental and almost mystical importance to the King. Then all Moroccans were united in the one beautiful cause of independence; now they are divided and confused.

Last week, after privately getting Charles de Gaulle's personal O.K. for the journey, Mohammed V unexpectedly set out on a "pilgrimage'' to retrace the route of his exile. With him aboard the royal DC-7 (equipped with salon, bedroom, movie screen, office), the King took his 29-year-old son, Crown Prince Moulay Hassan, and Morocco's Minister of Interior. "We have decided that the heir apparent shall accompany us during the course of this exceptional voyage, in view of its symbolic character." the King explained. "Our son Hassan has shared our exile. He was our companion, our mainstay and our collaborator in the service of our people."

Kings go forth with gifts, and for the people of Corsica, the first stop on the exile road, Mohammed brought along a very special one--"as a witness of the sincere friendship which His Majesty entertains for General de Gaulle." Shortly before the royal plane landed, it radioed Bastia airport that aboard the plane was a local boy, Ignace Cacciaguerra. a French army sergeant who had been captured by Moroccan tribesmen two years ago. The King's men negotiated for months to win the sergeant's release from the tribesmen. Summoned hastily, Cacciaguerra's mother was at the airport to greet her son and the

King with thankful tears, and Corsican officials toasted the occasion in champagne. At week's end Mohammed V flew on to Madagascar, confident that Morocco's squabbling politicians would not seize on his absence to stir trouble back home, hopeful that his symbolic journey would remind them of the unity his people once shared.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.