In May 1907, after France had occupied Oujda, the southern aristocrats—led by the head of the Glaoua tribe, Si Elmadani El Glaoui—invited Abd al-Hafid, an elder brother of Abdelaziz, and viceroy at Marrakesh, to become sultan, and on August 16, 1907, after the bombardment and occupation of Casablanca, Abdelhafid was proclaimed sovereign in Marrakesh with all the usual formalities.