Vietnam’s Village of Moroccan Defectors

Vietnam’s Village of Moroccan Defectors

When his plane touched down at Rabat’s Sale Airport in 1972, 16-year-old Zika Hajji stepped out into the dry heat of Morocco for the first time, toward the outstretched hand of an imposing man in military uniform with high cheekbones and heavy-rimmed sunglasses. Gen. Mohamed Oufkir greeted him in Moroccan dialect, "Kidayer, labass?” (“How are you doing?”). Zika froze. He didn’t speak any Arabic. His father, who himself had not seen his homeland …