M'hamed Ababou (Arabic: امحمد أعبابو; 1938 – 10 July 1971) was a senior Moroccan Army officer.

[2] Acting under his orders, about 1,200 cadets from the school seized the Royal summer palace at Skhirat where a diplomatic function was being held to celebrate the King's forty-second birthday.

It was to be subsequently claimed that the young cadets had been told by Ababou and other officers that they were acting to protect King Hassan against rebels.

Initially the only loyalist troops present at the palace were ceremonial guards and the king took refuge in a pavilion annex.

Ababou was killed on the day of the coup during an exchange of fire with royal troops led by General Bouhali, who had been dispatched to the palace to rescue the king.