The Rif

The Rif appears to be a northern extrusion of the middle atlas but is in fact not geologically related to the Atlas system at all but to the mountains of southern Spain.It has a high rainfall and isvery green , more like Wales.
 It has always been a very independant area, the population,of Chleugh mixed with muslim and jewish refugees from the reconquista, speak an Amizigh language (though not the Tashalet of Taroudant) and resisted the Spanish Protectorate, forming a self-declared republic in 1921 which survived until 1925, nearly beating the Spanish who only defeated it with the help of the French and the widespread use of mustard gas. Cancer rates in the area are elevated to this day.
The area is traditionally controlled by various muslim brotherhoods, one of the largest of which has its zaouia in Ouezzine. Further north around Ketama (now Issaguen) the traditional crop is cannabis, which was actively encouraged by the Spanish during the occupation. Cultivation remained legal until the 1970s, and despite it becoming illegal and attempts to suppress it 2011 figures showed that 72% of all cannabis seizures world-wide originated in the Rif. Despite this the farmers remain poor and the area in need of development.

 http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=59037

The Rif remains fiercely independant and resisted the moroccan government in 1956 having to be ruthlessly put down by Mohammed V's government and there are still calls for an independant Rif Republic based on the 1925 boundaries.

  http://rif.livenations.net/