Commemoration of Morocco's retaking of Rio de Oro in 1979

On 14 August, Morocco commemorated the 24th anniversary of the full re-establishment of its territorial integrity. It was on 14 August 1979 that Mauritania withdrew its claim to sovereignty over Rio de Oro (Oued Eddahab in Arabic), the southernmost region of the former colony of the Spanish Sahara. The Moroccan State media stressed the importance of the event on national news, showing historic footage of the blue-robed Sahrawi tribal chiefs assembled in the Mechouar (Palace compound) in Rabat, paying their oath of allegiance to Hassan II.

 

The development of the Saharan provinces and handling pressures from the Polisario movement is a difficult dossier which the Palace continues to follow closely. In his speech from the throne in 2009, Mohamed VI underlined that no compromises with would-be liberation movements were possible: the former Spanish colony would remain firmly Moroccan; to quote, “With full responsibility, We affirm that there is no place for ambiguity and duplicity: a citizen is either Moroccan or he is not ... One is either a patriot or a traitor. There is no middle ground between patriotism and betrayal.”

For more news and expert analysis about Morocco, please see Morocco Politics & Security.

© 2013 Menas Associates

Morocco: Demonstrations against the oath of allegiance to the King

To celebrate the reigning monarch's accession, an annual ceremony is held during which all the country's leading politicians and dignitaries pay allegiance to the King. The bayaâ, as the event is called, is actually a ceremony resurrected by the late Hassan II as a public symbol of the nation's unity around its Muslim ruling house.

There have, however, been increasing murmurs of dissatisfaction with this ceremony because it requires citizens (or subjects) to bow and kiss the King's hand. People on the political left see this act as humiliating for free citizens, while conservative Islamists see it as inappropriate as it places an illegitimate authority figure between the individual believer and God.

In May, Ahmed Raïssouni, a key figure in the Mouvement pour l'unicité et la réforme (MUR), called for an end to the baise-main, the kissing of the royal hand. In an interview with the Al Massae newspaper in late August, Raïssouni criticised the Moroccan State's instrumentalisation of religion to secure its position.

On Tuesday 21 August, the date of this year's ceremony, a small group of Mouvement du 20-Février activists demonstrated in Rabat against the oath of allegiance. Neither the Palace nor the government commented which is an indication that the movement is running out of political steam.

For more news and expert analysis about Morocco, please see Morocco Politics & Security.

© 2012 Menas Associates

Morocco's former finance minister publicly accused of corruption

On 11 June, parliamentary debates were suspended in the Chamber of Deputies when an MP of the ruling PJD, Abdul Aziz Avtate, accused former finance minister Salaheddine Mezouar of accepting bribes 'under the table' in a tirade about the need for reform. MPs of Mezouar's party, the Rassemblement national des indépendants (RNI), one of the largest opposition parties, expressed their anger before the speaker ended the session.

Avtate's accusation may be seen partly as a reaction to RNI deputies' acerbic criticism of the PJD's unpopular measures. Interviewed in the francophone global weekly Jeune Afrique, Mezouar said that Islamist PJD policies are just sensationalist. Elected as president of the RNI in April, Mezouar's ambition is to transform the RNI, a centrist party of technocrats and notables, into the leading opposition party.

In the November 2011 elections, the RNI won 52 seats (out of 395), as opposed to 39 in the outgoing parliament. Mezouar believes that the PJD has no real answer to current economic problems; the recent budget adopted by the Islamist-led government is simply the budget for 2012 drawn up under Mezouar last year. So far, from the RNI point of view, the Islamists have put forward fragments of legislation around religious and ideological issues to hide their incapacity to satisfy society's expectations in terms of jobs and improvements in daily life. Rather than being capable of implementing true reform, the current government prefers spectacle.

For more news and expert analysis about Morocco, please see Morocco Politics & Security.

© 2012 Menas Associates