Morocco's latest spat with Algeria

 

Moroccan-Algerian relations appear to be returning to normal following their recent spat over the Western Sahara. A senior government official announced on 4 November that Morocco's ambassador to Algiers, Abdallah Belkaziz, had returned to the Algerian capital and was set to resume work on the same day.

 

He had been recalled to Rabat the previous week following President Bouteflika's provocative speech over Morocco's abuse of human rights in the Western Sahara occupied territories in suppressing the “peaceful struggle” of the Sahrawi people for freedom of expression and association.

The official stressed that the ambassador had only been recalled for consultations and had not been withdrawn, adding that Morocco "will always take measures against those who try to touch its territorial integrity." Referring to an incident last week, in which a Moroccan protester tore down the flag from Algeria's consulate in Casablanca, he said the authorities had been "firm" and the perpetrator was under arrest. But the official denied that Morocco had made an "apology" over the incident.

 

Ugly scenes had developed outside Algeria's consulate in Casablanca on Friday 1 October as Moroccans, egged on by their own government, protested against President Bouteflika's provocative comments over the Western Sahara. A number of other protests against Algeria were staged around the country and most notably in Rabat and Oujda. In what can only be explained as retaliatory action, Algeria arrested dozens of Moroccans living within its borders on alleged espionage and drug-trafficking charges.

 

Who gets the last word in before US Secretary of State John Kerry arrives on the scene (see below) is still up for grabs. So far, it is with King Mohamed VI, who, in his speech on Wednesday 6 November to mark the 38 th anniversary of the occupation of the Western Sahara, accused Algeria of systematic violations of human rights in Tindouf Sahrawi refugee camps.

 

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

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

Algerian border controls to reduce petrol smuggling produce results

 

Algeria's black-marketeers and their clients in countries like Morocco and Tunisia had realised that there were considerable profits to be made from smuggling cheap Algerian petrol across rather porous land borders. By 2013, the impact of fuel smuggling was being felt, with Algeria's national consumption rocketing for no apparent reason. It was estimated that around 25% of subsidised Algerian hydro-carbons was being taken out of the country illegally, with the State losing around US$1.3 billion in revenue. In the course of summer 2013, the Algerian authorities reinforced border controls. On 8 September, Algeria's Minister of Energy Youcef Yousfi announced that the campaign was beginning to bear fruit. Fuel consumption was down.

 

In July 2012, consumption increased by 9%; a year later, for the same month, consumption was up by a mere 1.8%, attributable to increased summer traffic on the roads. The Moroccan State also suffered from loss of revenue due to declining fuel sales as well as the safety problem created by large amounts of petrol circulating in plastic barrels and other containers.

 

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

 

© 2013 Menas Associates

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

Moroccans continue to trust the PJD

A public opinion survey just published by the Arab Centre for Political Research and Studies (CAREP) sheds interesting light on Moroccans? opinion of their first Islamist-dominated government. While the opposition remains inflexible in its criticism of the government and part of the coalition is actually ready to throw in the towel and pull out of government, the Moroccan public actually seems quite well disposed to the Benkirane government.

 

Although 91% of respondents felt that corruption continues to plague the civil service, 63% remain convinced that the government is determined to fight the problem; 57% said that they felt the government would manage to deal with corruption while 65% felt that the press is free in Morocco – a position which independent analysts would find untenable.

 

Meanwhile 70% said that they had no worries about the Islamist government having a hidden agenda. While the results of such surveys are problematic in many ways, at the very least this particular set of results suggests that Moroccans are still ready to give the PJD the benefit of the doubt.

 

This interpretation would seem to suggest that the Parti de l?Istiqlal is out of synch with the dominant feeling about the country?s leadership. Istiqlal leader Hamid Chabat could therefore suffer should early elections have to be called.

 

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

© 2013 Menas Associates

Morocco: Opposition boycotts PM's monthly question time

 

On 31 May, Prime Minister Abdelilah Benkirane addressed a largely empty Lower House of Parliament during his monthly question-time. The main opposition parties – the RNI, PAM, USFP and the UC – had decided to boycott the session in protest against the way in which it has been managed. In essence, the opposition feels that it has insufficient time to raise issues of importance.

During the May question-time, Benkirane was his usual paternalist self, attempting to soften the blow represented by cutbacks in the investment budget by saying that these were “sad measures, but in the interest of the people”; he added a few words addressing the “the poor of the cities and countryside” saying that “our heart is with you”. However, reforms in the subsidy system, retirement pensions, the tax system and justice will go forward, he stressed.

Benkirane compared managing a country to being in the same situation as a “family head building a house: delaying construction works does not mean stopping them. If things are not done this year, they will be next year”.

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

© 2013 Menas Associates

King inaugurates new developments in eastern Morocco

On Saturday 1 December, Moroccan TV news reported on the royal visit to Nador, eastern Morocco's largest port city. The king visited the special tourist development zone at Mar Chica, the lagoon next to Nador and a new golf academy. The king opens tens of such projects every year – some are extremely significant while others are not. Many such inaugurations would be left to a minor royal or government official in another country. The king and his close entourage are, however, key decision makers so, during such a visit, much is happening backstage, while 'who-is-who' can be seen on TV news by watching who is presented to the king.

During the Nador visit the king looked unwell and walked with the aid of a crutch from his car to the official inauguration tent. Very quickly this appearance was the object of multiple commentaries in social media. The most reasonable explanation is that in the winter the king suffers when a badly treated leg injury of some years ago flares up. Palace sources made absolutely no comment. The last time the Royal Household made an announcement on the king's health was in 2009.

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

© 2012 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: Istiqlal's problems of choosing a new leader

The major opposition Istiqlal party held its 16 th congress from 29 June to 1 July. At the top of the agenda was the process of choosing a new leader to succeed former prime minister Abbas El Fassi. The party traditionally chooses a leader by acclamation based on consensus.

This time elections seemed to be necessary because two contrasting candidates have come forward:

• Abdelouahed El Fassi , Abbas El Fassi's son; and
• Hamid Chabat, populist mayor of Fès as well as the secretary general of the Union générale des travailleurs marocains (UGTM). Chabat, who has his supporters, says he will step down from his union post if he is elected as party leader. Unfortunately, two of his sons are currently in jail (one for drugs-related offences) and Chabat himself is currently facing legal action.

Observers say that a consensus candidate may be chosen from among the party's leading figures. Possible candidates include former transport minister Karim Ghellab; former housing and urban development minister Taoufik Hejra; and Saâd Alami. Another popular alternative candidate to Chabat, Abdelkader El Kyhel, (aged 40), is too young to stand.

Abbas El Fassi stated to the press that “the party wants neither revolutionaries in its ranks nor candidates for the secretary general's post who have court cases pending”. At the close of the congress, there was no consensus candidate and elections had not been held.

The question of Istiqlal's leadership is now on hold until an executive committee meeting in September. The Palace has expressed no preference for any particular candidate. Chabat declared after the congress that he had no intention of withdrawing his candidature for the leadership.

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

© 2012 Menas Associates

Morocco: Public expression of social tensions

There have been further clashes between police and demonstrators in the port city of Mohamedia and in the countryside near Larache. On 16 June, in Mohamedia, east of Casablanca and site of the SAMIR refinery, residents of a shanty town demonstrated in front of the Prefect's Office and clashed with police preventing them from entering the building. Twenty demonstrators and six police were reported hurt.

In a rural area close to the port of Larache, south of Tangiers, there was violence between villagers and police. Media coverage was limited. Residents of the village of Chlihate had blocked the farm machinery of a Spanish agricultural company, Ribera del Arroz, which farms 4,500 hectares in the region, cultivating mainly rice. Feelings had been running high over difficult access to grazing land, the mosquito problem arising since the company switched the land to rice, and its failure to deliver jobs for locals. Negotiations between the local authority and the company since April had failed to produce any tangible results.

(Locals had demanded a barrier plantation of sugar-cane to reduce the mosquito problem.)

With the rice-planting season approaching, villagers decided to occupy the land. On 14 June, there were clashes between the demonstrators and the Gendarmerie. On 16 June, the heavily-armed police arrived, using tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the demonstrators. Police broke into houses, terrorising inhabitants and stealing property. The village's one shop was destroyed. On 17 June, Chlihate was encircled by militarised police and roads cut off. Water cannons were used on the villagers, wounding women and children. Many young men fled to the nearby woods.

On Wednesday 20 June, a solidarity mission composed of human rights activists was able to reach the village and talk to the terrorised inhabitants. Details of the human rights violations remain to be drawn up but there is good reason to believe that they are serious. In addition, pressure was placed on residents of surrounding settlements to refuse help to those fleeing Chlihate. The opposition PAM (Parti de l'authenticité et de la modernité) placed responsibility squarely on the shoulders of the authorities.

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

Morocco: Collective Mamfakinche calls for a political amnesty

The minister for justice, the former activist Mustapha Ramid, presented the national report on the situation in Morocco on 22 May in Geneva as part of the Universal Periodic Examination on human rights. He was questioned on accusations that the country had seen repeated attacks on freedom of expression at several levels and the resurgence of police violence during demonstrations. The minister was called upon to reform the press code, abolish the death penalty and introduce legislation abolishing polygamy and the marriage of minors. In response, Ramid drew attention to Morocco's moratorium on the death penalty and promised a revised press code.

On the same day, the Mamfakinche collective launched the Free Koulchi (literally, Free Everybody) advocating a general amnesty for political prisoners in Morocco. Its website campaign notes that 13 years after Mohamed VI's accession and seven years after the Instance pour l'équité et la réconciliation (IER), the body which was supposed to have settled issues around human rights abuses in Morocco, the human rights situation was still fragile, with:

• dissidents regularly put on trial for their opinions;
• journalists jailed;
• trials being rigged;
• police violence a risk at demonstrations;
• public media tools for state propaganda;
• repressive anti-terrorist legislation in force.

The campaign page calls upon Prime Minister Benkirane and the Chamber of Representatives (Lower House of Parliament) to 'break with immobilism and present, debate and adopt a bill of amnesty for all those given sentences for political reasons, both during the period covered by the IER report (1956 to 2005) and since'. Among those listed on the page to be freed are rapper LaHaqed and the poet of the Mouvement du 20-Février, Younes Belkhdim, arrested on 30 March during a sit-in in support of LaHaqed, and sentenced to two years imprisonment on 18 May.

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

© 2012 Menas Associates