Virtual Magazine of Morocco on the Web
Morocco Week in Review 
May 21 2005

Morocco gets US foundation grant for tele-medicine initiative.
Over 20,000 cases of scorpion stings in Morocco in 2004.
Over 300 meningitis cases recorded annually in Morocco.
Forest fires consumed Over 8000 ha in 2004 
Over 20 thousands enrolled in 'popular universities' courses.
Jobs for the Girls.
Children's rights Rabat discusses national action plan for childhood.
A day on child labor in Morocco.
Over 100 call centers in Morocco.
Terrorist attacks Moroccan economy unaffected by May 16.
Morocco, UAE launch USD 2Bn project to develop Oued Bouregreg valley.
Parliamentary forum for Moroccan women.
The other side of Morocco: Sidi Moumen's shantytowns, home to human bombs.
History : Archaeological research in Morocco.
Moroccan Invention to Help Drivers, Blind People Identify Traffic Lights.
Morocco needs "educational belt".
Essaouira, first Moroccan city to become slum-free.
Essaouira festival to start June 23, 2005 
Morocco launches anti-slum plan after 2003 bombings.
HM King announces the launching of 'the National Initiative for Human Development'.
Morocco king vows slums clean-up.
Over 400 'phantom civil servants' salaries frozen.
Moroccan official rules out risk of new locust invasion. 
GDP: Moroccan economy grows at 4.2% in 2004.
World Bank Institution adopts a four-year strategy for Morocco.
Moroccan economy on the increase for another two years, report.
Agriculture : Moroccan Agricultural Credit to strengthen its proximity policy.
Sunil Sethi: How tourism transformed Morocco

Morocco gets US foundation grant for tele-medicine initiative.

The US charity foundation "Mosaic" is giving proceedings collected in its annual fund-raising gala to a telemedicine pilot program developed by the Washington-based Children's National Medical Center. The pilot project in Morocco will benefit Moroccan children and families with improved paediatric care. It will provide improved diagnostic training, health education and access to assistance to doctors and healthcare workers, providing many at-risk children with life-saving treatment.

The program is scheduled to be extended to other Arab countries. Morocco was chosen this year as "Major Beneficiary Grant". Mosaic, which groups spouses of Arab ambassadors in Washington, is active in more than 100 countries-including Egypt, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia and Jordan- to solve critical problems in health, education, youth development and the environment.Princess Haifa Al-Fayçal, spouse of the Saudi ambassador and chairwoman of the charity said the fund is proud to team up with the Children National Medical Center to support the pilot telemedicine paediatric center in Morocco. Dr. Craig Sable, from the CNMC cardio-vascular department, said the goal is to share resources and knowledge with Arab countries in order to improve the health and well-being of children.The tele-medicine network will allow to make distance medical examination, read medical images and follow-up patients. The network, to be operational in two years, will focus on personnel training and improving health care technologies and services. Since it was established in 1998, the foundation has collected over US$ 7.3 million.

This benefit Gala celebrated design through fashion. During this event, guests attended a visual presentation of traditional Arab costume followed by a live fashion presentation of couture creations provided by the generosity of several world renowned couture designers who have donated fabulous creations inspired by Arab costume and designs.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=2&id=6501    
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Over 20,000 cases of scorpion stings in Morocco in 2004.
Health, 5/17/2005

Some 24,000 cases of scorpion stings were reported in 2004 in Morocco, representing over 30% of poisoning cases, said Director of Moroccan Anti-Poison Center (CNAP), Rachida Slimani.Speaking on the margin of a medical study day, she noted that scorpion stings caused 1,000 poisoning cases, including 87 deaths.The region located between the Atlantic Ocean and Atlas mountains is the more beset by this phenomenon notably Kalaat Sraghna, Marrakech, El Jadida, Settat, Beni Mellal, Essaouira, Safi and Agadir, she pointed out.

Slimani noted that the Health ministry and competent actors focus their strategy operations to reduce the number of scorpion stings and death cases notably to children who are mostly vulnerable to this phenomenon as death rate among them varies between 80 and 90%.The strategy includes guaranteeing a continuous training for nurses and physicians about scorpion sting treatment and diagnostic, and on rehabilitating the reanimation services. 
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050517/2005051727.html 
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Over 300 meningitis cases recorded annually in Morocco.
Health, 5/19/2005

Some 360 meningitis cases are recorded annually in the kingdom, including deadly cases that represent 5 to 10% of people affected by the disease, said, here Wednesday, Health minister, Mohamed Cheikh Biadillah.Speaking at the House of representatives question-time, Biadillah said his ministry controls the disease development through regional observatories.The best treatment to this illness consists of purifying the respiratory system, a World Health Organisation method adopted in Morocco, he said noting that vaccination is key element in treating some types of this disease. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050519/2005051930.html 
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Forest fires consumed Over 8000 ha in 2004 

Forest fires destroyed 8660 ha of forests in Morocco (0.09% of total national forests), said the High Commissioner for Water, Forests and Fighting Desertification (HCWFFD). The HCWFFD said 714 fires ravaged national forests, namely in the Rif region, Northern Morocco, where 3800 ha were burnt down. The second region is the North-West region with 2086 ha (24%) and the Eastern region 1173 ha (13.53%).The Chefchaouen region topped the list of the provinces most ravaged by this phenomenon with 2894.61 ha (49 fires), followed by Sidi Kacem with 1533.21 ha (8 fires), Nador with 553.37 ha (26 fires), Taourirt with 418,1 ha and Tangier with 337,14 ha (74 fires).

The High Commissioner noted that forest fires increased in 2004 due to drought and burning land for farming, but authorities were able to contain 90% of fires fast and effectively, which explains the low damage that didn't reach 10 ha per fire. Fires take place every year, but their intensity is more important during the summer holidays, namely in the period June-October. The origin of forest fires are mainly human, while causes in 95% of fires (684 fires) have not been identified. The kingdom dedicates MAD 180 million, 18 million euros, for 2005 action plan for prevention, forests cleaning, sylviculture, surveillance and buying new equipments. Other departments are associated in this plan as the ministry of equipments will contribute MAD 20 million and local communities MAD 25 million. 
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=6521 
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Over 20 thousands enrolled in 'popular universities' courses.
Education, 5/17/2005

Over 20,000 people have enrolled in the program of "popular universities," launched in January 2005, said Monday Morocco's State Secretary in charge of Youth, Mohamed El Gahs."Popular universities" is a free-of-charge learning structure not leading to diplomas that seeks the dissemination of "knowledge for knowledge sake. "The lectures dispensed by this program --they range from sociology, history, law, philosophy, literature, communication, administration, to psychology-- are destined to those who could not, for various reasons, carry on their higher studies and to those who desire to acquire more knowledge and allow these people perfect their education.

El Gahs, who was guest, Monday, to a Moroccan TV channel talk-show, said more than a million youths have benefited directly from the services of youth centers, adding that his department is working flat out to elaborate programs and projects destined to shield young Moroccans against extremist ideologies that are utterly alien to them.Touching on another issue, the minister said that the operation "holidays for all" is due to benefit this year some 200,000.The operation, destined to children of poor people, had last year benefited over 100,000. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050517/2005051725.html
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Education: "Knowledge for knowledge" operation successful.
5/17/2005

Nearly 20,000 benefited from the "People's University" programme, more than half of which were women, announced Mohammed El Gahs on May 16 Moroccan Secretary of State in Charge of Youth Mohamed El Gahs announced Monday on the Moroccan channel "TVM" that the "People's University" programme attracted more than 20,000 registrations of which more than half (11,340) came from women.He added that the State Secretariat in Charge of Youth is currently working at designing other programmes and projects targeting Moroccan youths, whatever their social environment in order to make them immune to extremist ideas.

The Popular University programme consisted in free weekly classes dealing with disciplines such as sociology, communication, philosophy, literature, history, education sciences or law. The courses, scheduled to take place from Jan. 15 to May 15, were held across Morocco, in cities such as Rabat, Casablanca, Laâyoune, Agadir, Oujda, Marrakech, Tanger and Fès. Each of them lasted between two and three hours and took place on Sunday evenings.Participants did not face any educational or age limitations. They were not forced to attend the courses systematically either. As for the professors, part of them taught on a voluntary basis.

Despite the fact that no diplomas were delivered, the operation was quite successful with registration lists being full ten days before the end of the registrations period, even if registrations were not necessary to attend the classes. The most successful courses dealt with law and business classes (18% of the total), which forced the State secretariat to limit the number of students to 25 for each group. Business classes were animated by engineers from elite schools such as the Hassania School of Public Works or the Mohammedia School of Engineers. 
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=6597 
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Jobs for the Girls.
Volume 65 / 16.05.2005

Morocco's mixed fortunes in the labour market were in the headlines again this week, as job losses in textiles were reported, along with job gains in one new market - call centres. Overall, unemployment rates fell during the first quarter of this year in the kingdom, giving some hope that a growing population and the threat to employment posed by the ending of the Multi-Fibre Agreement (MFA) might not have as dramatic an impact as first feared. According to official figures, the national unemployment average fell by 0.7% during the first quarter of 2005, year-on-year, making some 11.3% of the Moroccan workforce out of work - down from 12.0% by the end of the first quarter in 2004.

The figures also showed that rates are highly uneven across the country. The main concentrations of unemployed are in urban areas, with rates there ranging between 19.2 and 19.8%. Up country, however, the rates are far lower - averaging 3.3-4.1%. News portal Yabiladi also reported that the decline in unemployment was largely due to an increase in the job rates among women and youth. Female unemployment fell 3.3%, while unemployment among the 15-24 year old group fell 1.6%. The other main group doing better was rural residents holding some sort of qualification - these saw unemployment fall 3.3%.

The figures may therefore back up other recent reports about an increase in employment opportunities in one particular sector of the Moroccan economy - call centres. These typically employ young, female workers and their presence is clearly growing in urban areas. For some time, many French companies have been relocating their call centres to North Africa, and Morocco in particular, as the recent decision by Webcad, a unit of the French Webhelp, to hire 400 more operators in the country shows. However, this trend may now have become more international.

The North Africa Journal reported recently that the Tennessee-based ClientLogic, a subsidiary of the Canadian Onex Corporation, was also now looking for 100 call-centre operators in Rabat. What attracts companies to Morocco is primarily the low cost of telecommunications, added to a strong supply of well-trained workers on salaries well below European standards. While a France-based operator might get 1200 euros a month, their Moroccan counterpart gets just 270, the Journal said. Staff are also typically given two-month training periods to brush up their foreign language skills and acclimatise culturally to dealing with calls from other countries. The cost of international leased links has also been declining, with those between Morocco and France falling from Dh26,000 ($2375) per month in 2002 to Dh15,000 ($1724) this year.

There has also been a deliberate policy by the Moroccan government to attract such businesses. Call centres get a five-year break from sales tax on that portion of their income that comes from export, while VAT is cut by 50% on export services and there are reduced social security payments for an 18-month start-up period. Meanwhile, however, employment opportunities elsewhere are not always so widespread. A High Commissioner for Planning (HCP) report mid-May showed that the country's textile sector had lost 95,000 jobs during the first quarter of this year. That figure made up some 78% of total layoffs reported in the industrial sector during the period, with this time women suffering the most. Some 106,000 women's jobs had been lost year-on-year, the report stated. This was a widely expected decline, given the ending of the MFA on January 1, since when some 33% of Morocco's textile exports have vanished.

Predictions for the future of the sector have been gloomy, although there was some hope during May, as Spain's Tavex, Italy's Legler and the US Fruit Of The Loom announced they were to invest around $300m in the Moroccan textile sector, enough for some 2500 jobs. Yet despite the pluses and minuses of job creation and destruction, the overall level of employment has to keep steadily rising if Morocco is to meet the demands of its demographics. Since the 1960s, the numbers within the 15-59 age range - the most economically active in the country - have been expanding, to around 63% of the total by 2003. Providing jobs for these people is a major challenge, although the numbers entering the job market are on a declining rate of increase. The number of people under 15 was 44% in 1960, and 30% in 2003. But this declining birth rate expansion is unlikely to have major effects until into the 2020s, with the problem in the meantime likely to be finding work for the young, rather than catering for the aging population that is likely to come later. In the meantime, hitting the urban unemployment figures in particular remains a tough, yet vital challenge for Rabat. http://www.oxfordbusinessgroup.com/weekly01.asp?id=1365 
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Children's rights Rabat discusses national action plan for childhood.
By Houda Filali-Ansary 5/13/2005

Officials and civil society members are gathering on Friday in Rabat to discuss Morocco's national action plan for childhood, in accordance with the UN directives for the creation of "a world fit for children." The meeting mainly aimed at applying the UN directives relative to the situation of children mentioned in the UN document entitled "A world fit for children," produced following the May 2002 United Nation General Assembly Special Session on children.

At that assembly, several governments had pledged to work at improving children's living conditions and had given their approval to a declaration of principles and purposes as well as a world action plan centred on health issues (reducing children's mortality and giving them better access to healthcare), access to education, eliminating gender disparities, protection against abuse, exploitation or violence and preserve them from AIDS.Morocco's national plan was launched in June 2004, following the United Nations' advice, with the organisation a number of workshops with the participation of concerned associations.Morocco has been among the nine IOF countries which have succeeded in reducing mortality rates in children aged under five by more than half. However, many improvements are still needed in several fields, especially concerning children living in rural areas, especially little girls and children born outside wedlock.
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=6469 
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A day on child labor in Morocco.
17-05-2005 

The Amal Association for the development and the culture of Marrakech in collaboration with the National Mutual Aid of Marrakech and the support of UNICEF, will hold on Tuesday, May 17 a day of conferences and workshops under the title of "Child Labor: Struggle experiences and lessons for the future". EMarrakech reports that the planned events will take place in Ahmed Chaouki College in Marrakech and will include several lectures on various issues such as 'Amal association experience in the fight against child labor', 'Child work: international legislation and Moroccan legislation', a testimony of children, who have been used as work force in the past, an open debate, a theatrical segment on child labor and a photo exhibition. http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Morocco/183687 
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Over 100 call centers in Morocco.

Morocco accounts for over 100 call centers that earn a turnover of some MAD 800m (73 million euros), and secure about ten thousand job opportunities, said on Thursday Andre Azoulay, Advisor to HM King. Azoulay, who was speaking at the opening session of the second international fair of call centers, said 85% of the turnover is generated through activities with France and Spain, adding that Morocco will soon host 50% of French outsourcing in this field.The monarch's advisor ascribed Morocco's achievement in the call centers sector to the various incentives offered by the State, pointing out that the quality of human resources, and their cost-related competitiveness, and a flexible and stable social environment have also contributed to the success of this industry.Azoulay called for a decentralization of call centers, deploring the fact that 80% of these centers are concentrated in Casablanca-Rabat region. 
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=6497 
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Terrorist attacks Moroccan economy unaffected by May 16.

Among the major sectors of the Moroccan economy which were expected to suffer from the May 16, 2003, terrorist attacks in Casablanca is tourism. Following the attacks, tourism in Morocco declined drastically in the following weeks, but over the whole year, it had a minor effect on this strategic sector of the Moroccan economy. Analysts argue the decline recorded in 2003 was even lower than that posted by the sector worldwide.

Tourism worldwide generated USD 500 billion in 2002 through 715 million tourists. This trend was dented mainly by political turmoil in many hot spots around the world in 2003, but the latest figures suggest the industry is on the mend. For the first eight months of 2004, barely 526 million tourists traveled around the globe according to the annual report of the World Travel Market released early November. It expects an increase 4 to 5% in 2005.Data of Moroccan tourism in 2004 corroborated the fact that the industry is on the mend.

Morocco managed to hit for the first time ever in 2004 the record five million mark of tourists. The figure, though, includes more than two million Moroccans living abroad who visited the country. The industry of tourism in Morocco is considered to be of major economic importance. In 2004, it generated MAD 34 billion of foreign financial transfers. Morocco has devised an ambitious plan to further consolidate the sector. The country reaches for 10 million tourists by 2010 through the construction of 80,000 new lodging rooms so that total national capacity will reach 115,000 rooms of 230,000 hotel-beds. Investments budgeted to reach this goal total MAD 30 billion and are expected to create 600,000 new jobs in the sector, whose contribution to Gross Domestic Product are targeted to reach 20%. http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=5&id=6509 
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Morocco, UAE launch USD 2Bn project to develop Oued Bouregreg valley.
Rabat, May 17

Morocco and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) signed, here Tuesday, a draft accord to launch USD 2 billion-worth "Amwaj" project in Oued Bouregreg valley that separates the capital Rabat from millennium-old Sale. The accord was signed by Dubaï International Properties (DIP), and two Moroccan partners, namely Caisse de dépôt et de gestion (CDG), and SABR Management company. The project, to extend on a 100ha area, is aimed at boosting tourism and economic activity in the Moroccan capital. It will feature a harbor for yachts, five-star hotels and resorts and a convention centre to host international events and conferences. It will also include appartements, shop, malls, theaters and landscaped areas.

Amwaj is part of Oued Bouregreg project launched by HM king Mohammed VI last year in the historic valley of Bouregreg. The project covers over 4,000 hectares, starting from the outlet of the Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah dam. SABR Management CEO, Lemghari Essakl, said the site will help turn the Bouregreg valley into one of the most important sites in the Arab world and Africa, and make of Rabat an important tourism destination. "The launch of this project demonstrates our confidence in the future of the Moroccan economy," DIP CEO, Mohammed Al Gergawi, told a press conference in Rabat. The project reflects the strong bond between the UAE and the Kingdom of Morocco in several areas including diplomacy and economy, he pointed out. "Amwaj" project, to be completed in two years, will help transform the valley to a prestigious social centre, create 100,000 jobs, including about 40,000 direct ones, and boost economic development. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box4/morocco_uae_launch/view 
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Parliamentary forum for Moroccan women.
17-05-2005 

The Moroccan women parliament members of both houses have established recently The Parliamentary Forum for Moroccan women. The forum was created in order to reinforce the coordination and dialogue between Moroccan women in the parliament, and thus enabling them to gain objectives for the benefit of women in Morocco and to promote the principles of democracy in the kingdom. <i>Yabiladi</i> reports that the new forum is also expected to reinforce the presence of women on the decision-making levels and enable them to make better use of the legislative mechanisms in order to promote women affairs. 
http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/Morocco/183689 
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The other side of Morocco: Sidi Moumen's shantytowns, home to human bombs.
By Karima Rhanem | Morocco TIMES 5/17/2005

It all happened in one night. Twelve desperate young Moroccans decided on May 16, 2003, to blow themselves up in five sites in Casablanca, killing 45 people. Inhabitants of Douar Sekouila and Thomas shantytown in the district of Sidi Moumen, in Casablanca, home to the May 16 suicide bombers, are still believed to be an easy target for extremists and terrorists.

Morocco Times paid a visit to these slums and met with the families and friends of the kamikazes, who described how they had endured the events. Some totally condemned the attacks; others still could not believe how they could have happened, but the majority said that the kamikazes were incited to commit these acts against innocents. It was 1.00 pm when we arrived at "Karyan Thomas" in Sidi Moumen to meet the families of the suicide bombers, two years after the deadly attacks that rocked Morocco's business capital. Sidi Moumen, one of Casablanca's neglected slums had not changed much since our last visit in 2004, except that new apartments are built roundabout, to allow the residents of Sidi Moumen's shanty towns to benefit from decent housing.

These impoverished slums have no electricity. As you go into the slum, you can see women in housework clothes coming from the 'Sakayas' (drinking fountains), carrying water in colourful buckets. Most residents of this 'Karyan' are unemployed, and many of them survive on petty theft or trafficking. Some inhabitants gathered next to a small shop, smoking hashish; others were sniffing glue. They stared at new comers - easily spotted as strangers. There were dozens of national and international reporters swarming into the area which had produced human bombs on a black Friday, on May 16, 2003. Rubbish was everywhere and the bad smells made you feel sick. Children in dirty clothes, aged between 7 and 14 years, were playing around. Many of them stopped playing and went to ask for money from the strangers. Some of the young people who were standing next to the shop came in to talk to the foreign journalists about their miserable situation. One of them said: "Hey Blondie-hair and green-eyed man, write and tell the world about the dirty place where we live. Another came to talk to me, saying sarcastically with a strong accent "Wash tahad magalik ghayhawlou had el karyan min hon?" (Did nobody tell you that they would move away this shanty town from here?)It was difficult to talk to these angry and desperate people. All of them were speaking loudly at the same time, using gestures and saying bad words.

At last, we were able to talk privately with a resident, who directed us to the house of one of the kamikazes. Despite his instructions, we had difficulty in finding the house as most of them looked the same in the narrow and winding alleys. After a long search, we found the family of the suicide bomber Mohammed Mhani.Mohammed Mhani's brother: "If my brother was alive, I would have killed him, because what he did was horrible" We knocked at the door, but nobody answered. The neighbours were discretely looking on us from their windows, thinking we were from the police or the secret service. Nobody dared to talk and their faces were very pale as if they had seen a ghost. We knocked again. Then, the door was half opened. A woman in her 50s or 60s was wearing an old traditional Moroccan dress. While talking to her, we learned that she was the mother of the suicide bomber Mohammed Mhani. She started crying without uttering a single word and refused to let us in. She looked utterly desperate. All she said was: "I told the police all I know; I have nothing more to say".She looked so miserable that we decided to let her alone, as she couldn't stop crying.

We went in search for other families. On our way, we came across the same man who had directed us earlier. He asked us if we wanted to talk to Mhani's brother.Mustapha Mhani, the elder brother of Mohammed told Morocco Times that his brother (the suicide bomber) had become very conservative, especially during the last six months before the attacks. He added that he had seen his brother on several occasions secretly watching tapes on Jihad with his friends, but he never thought that he would one day commit such a terrorist act. He also said that before the attacks, he learnt that his brother and his friends were meeting every evening, talking about something that he had never managed to know.

While asked about his opinion of the terrorist attacks, he said: "If my brother was alive, I would have killed him once again, because what he did was so horrible and unbelievable". Brother of the suicide bomber Adil Taich: "My brother has never been a fundamentalist. Go away from here, that's enough". We went looking for Adil Taich's family. We met his brother who was selling goods in a store next to his home. When we approached the boy to talk to him, dozens of neighbours surrounded us, asking who we were and what we wanted. They were staring at us as if they were going to beat us and push us out of the shanty town. The younger brother of Adil Taich looked frightened and refused to talk. The only thing he said was that he had no prior knowledge of what was going to happen on May 16, and that his brother was a normal guy with no political or religious affiliation. He pretended to look for something in the store and told us "My brother has never been a fundamentalist. Go away from here, that's enough". Zahra Echarif, mother of the suicide bomber Abdelfattah Bouliqdan: "This was a horrific crime, but my son was mislead and tricked."

Zahra Echarif, mother of the suicide bomber Abdelfattah Bouliqdan, on the other hand, received us and let us in. She looked serious, cold and desperate. Echarif has lost everything in life. Her husband died when her son was a kid. She had also recently lost her parents and then her son who blew himself up in one of the five sites. She has lost even her chance to work after the death of her son."We suffer more than the families of the victims, because what our children did was horrific. The shame will follow us wherever we go for all our life. "Echarif started crying saying: "my son was a nice person. He was religious and polite, but he was tricked. He has never been a delinquent or a violent person."

Relative of the suicide bomber Khalid Benmoussa: "I'm just a guest; there is nobody at home and I can't say anything" Khalid Benmoussa's house was next to Adil Taich's. We weren't so lucky talking to these two families, as they were too scared to say anything that would be used against them - or at least that's what they thought. A woman in her 40s opened the door. She pretended to be a guest and that nobody was at home. She refused to talk as dozens of residents stared at her as if they were telling her 'don't say a word.'

What do friends of the kamikazes in Karyan Thomas have to say about them? Z. Mohammed, 20, pedlar: The kamikazes were nice people, they helped us, even giving us money to buy beers, but what they did was horrible. A. Hamid, 30, mechanic: They were very weird during the last six months before the attacks. They were also trying to recruit people and influence them with Salafiya Jihadiya ideology.F. Houriya, 25, housewife: these young people were tricked. What they did was against Islam and humanity.K. Rabiaa, 21, tailor: what they did was horrible and they assumed their responsibility.

Fatima Ezohra Tarikhi, wife of Mohammed El Omari, the only surviving kamikaze: "My husband was forced to participate in the attacks and it was Abdelfattah Bouliqdan who got him involved in this affair" After talking to the families and friends of the kamikazes, we went to Douar Sekouila, where the only surviving suicide bomber lived, Mohammed El Omari, a car watch guard.Omari is facing a death penalty. Fatima Ezohra Tarikhi, Omari's wife received us in her house. She was covered up from head to toe. Tarikhi and Omari have one son, Zoubeir.Tarikhi said that she and her family denounced the attacks, and that they sympathized with the victims. "We know that Islam is a religion of peace, which forbids killing innocents. We really want to know where this terrorism comes from, because it is not an intrinsic part of our society," she said. Asked about her husband, Tarikhi said that when she visited him in prison, he told her that it was Abdelfattah Bouliqdan who got him involved in this affair."One day Bouliqdan came to ask El Omari about a car which was on sale. Since then, Bouliqdan started inviting my husband to 'Karyan' Thomas and filled his head with extremist ideas," said Tarikhi."When planning the attacks, El Omari asked to consult a religious scholar before doing anything. However, Bouliqdan had threatened to harm his family, especially our son Zoubeir, if he refused to take part," she added.Tarikhi went on: "They had rented an apartment in the 'Tacharok' neighbourhood in my husband's name. Bouliqdan had brought explosives to the apartment and threatened him if he spoke to anybody about this affair, his home would be blown up.

Death row Mohammed El Omari and two others - Rachid Jalil, and Yassine Lahnech, who had changed their mind during the attacks - claimed, during their trial, that they had been threatened by another bomber. The three men and a fourth, Hassan Taousi, 26, considered to be a leading member of Salafiya Jihadiya, all received death sentences.

Nearly 300,000 people live in Sidi Moumen shantytowns, most of them illiterate and unemployed. They had become an easy target for recruiters of the Salafiyah Jihadiya and remain so, two years later. These desperate people, if they didn't go aboard makeshift boats, risking their life on clandestine migration, they would fall into the influence of the Salafiya Jihadiya ideology which will turn them into human bombs.

"The civic neighbourhood" After the bombings, the government promised to have illiteracy eradication, unemployment and proper housing high on its agenda.Some new housing is under construction, new roads are being built and electricity expanded. The police constantly maintain a heavy presence. Around 20 % of residents have moved into new homes, but many of the remaining residents in the shantytowns say they can't afford to pay the new apartments. Residents of the shanty towns have extended families with so many children. Many of them prefer to stay in the slums rather than moving to confined apartments."Sidi Moumen and Hay el Walae associations, a network of 21 associations, launched a programme called "The civic neighbourhood" for Sidi Moumen residents, whose number reach 289,253 people, including 70,549 children and 57, 275 young men and women.

The project aims at making the residents aware of environmental issues in their area; reinforcing the principles of sustainable development and civic responsibility among the residents; and helping develop the residents' cultural, artistic and sporting talents. Danger of fundamentalism on Moroccan youth Some analysts have related the issue of fundamentalism to lack of education and faith, but said that it is mostly due to the economic conditions in which extremists are living. Poverty is one of the main reasons that leads people to embrace the fundamentalist doctrine.The trial of the Moroccan fundamentalists has shown that most of those arrested in the May 16 attacks grew up in poor areas, such as Sidi Moumen and Thomas slums.

Extremists groups such as Salfiya Jihadiya and others take advantage of this situation to recruit desperate young people and transform them into ready bombs.Extremist movements use teenagers as weapons to destroy societies thus discredit the image of Islam. They give themselves the right to punish people and tell them what to do and what not to do. Most of them agreed that people who are likely to be attracted by these movements are the ones who rebel against bad social and economical conditions; those who have a weak educational background; those who lack religious knowledge; and those who have problems in dealing with the outside world. http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=6572 
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History : Archaeological research in Morocco.
By Susan Searight-Martinet. 5/14/2005

Moroccan archaeologists from the National Institute of Archaeological Sciences and Heritage (INSAP) have been very busy recently. In cooperation with colleagues from France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom, they have been carrying out excavations and investigations all over the country. In most cases, students from the participating countries have taken part in the field work.

An archaeological exhibition in Rabat in December 2004 displayed some aspects of this research. Eastern Morocco. In eastern Morocco, work was linked to the theme common to several ongoing projects: "Contacts between African and European populations during prehistoric times via the Straits of Gibraltar." The idea was to see to what extent early Moroccans influenced their European contempories and vice-versa.

New research was carried out in the Grotte des Pigeons, a cave at Taforalt, near Oujda, first excavated in 1950. The early excavations had indicated that the cave was occupied about 21,000 years ago by a population physically different from Morocco's earlier inhabitants. These people were very similar to the Upper Palaeolithic Cro-Magnons of Europe - cousins perhaps - and were first recorded in Algeria. Called Iberomaurusians, they hunted small game, ate snails and plants and - luckily for the archaeologists - buried their dead. More than 200 individuals had been buried in the cave, including about 100 children. The study of the skeletons showed that the Iberomaurusians cared for their handicapped: after a severe accident, resulting in the total loss of a left arm and the almost total loss of a right arm, one woman nevertheless managed to live to an advanced age. This showed that these cave dwellers did not throw out a useless mouth but even looked after an impotent woman and helped her for many years. They also practised trepanation operations on two men - who survived this early surgery consisting of making a small hole in the skull with the help of a flint tool .

With the benefit of a chronological and environmental framework unavailable up to now, the new research has pushed back the dates of the early occupation here to more than 100,000 years. Excavation has also been taken up in two other Oujda caves and a number of new sites discovered. Eastern Rif. Moving westwards into the eastern Rif, seven archaeological missions have taken place since 1994, involving members of INSAP and KAVA, a German archaeological institute. This region has been little explored from the prehistoric point of view, so it is not surprising that more than 200 hitherto unknown archaeological sites were discovered. Five were chosen for excavation, based on their potential interest and good state of conservation. Two sites yielded stone tools belonging to one of the earliest prehistoric cultures known in Morocco: the Acheulian (so called after a site in France where this type of tool was first recognised). The earliest of these is dated to 800,000 bc, the other to 200,000. In both cases, this is the first time that traces of Morocco's oldest inhabitants (Homo erectus) have been found in north Morocco.

The stage coming after this - the Aterian- is known from two caves, one of which has a three-metre-thick archaeological level, rich in animal bones, including Barbary sheep, wild asses, gazelles, and ostriches, along with stone scrapers, spearheads and flakes. These people are noted for the invention of the tanged point, a uniquely North African idea. The carefully-fashioned tang enabled stone weaponheads to be mounted on a wooden shaft.The oldest dates here so far are from 52,000 to 40,000 bc. The Iberomaurisian culture (present in the neighbouring Oujda region) is represented by several sites, with dates ranging from 19,000 to 8,000 bc. The people in the Rif seem to have lived the same type of life as their contemporaries further east: hunting, collecting wild plants and eating snails.

Leaping towards the present, what is known as the proto-historical period - just before 'history' - produced a number of tumuli, generally very simple conical mounds of stones. Originally, one or more bodies were buried under these mounds, known throughout Morocco, but in the vast majority of cases they have been opened and looted by treasure-hunters. Two tumuli were investigated in the Rif and a few human bones and grave goods brought to light. They gave a date around 500/600 bc. Tangiers/Tetouan The same general research theme of contacts between African and European populations during prehistoric times via the Straits of Gibraltar becomes more evident in the Tangiers/Tetouan area.

Studies on sea-level variations between 25,000 and 18,000 bc showed that when sea-level dropped, islands could be seen in the Straits. This would obviously have been an encouragement to use them as stepping stones to cross over from north Morocco to the clearly visible Spanish coast. Data available so far does in fact indicate that during this period some of the people living in Morocco migrated to the Iberian peninsula, where they strongly influenced the local European populations. This influence is particularly visible in the appearance of certain purely African stone tools and techniques.

Research has thus provided new archaeological proof of the relations existing in prehistoric times between north Africa and southern Spain. An additional element of the research was the establishment of a complete chronological and cultural framework in which these contacts took place.The team, made up of members from INSAP and Oxford University (UK), started work in 2000. Since then, open-air and cave excavations have revealed several stratigraphical sequences, ranging from the Aterian period (62,000 to 20,000 bc), through the Iberomaurusian (22,000 to 8,000 bc) to the Neolithic (7,000-4,000 bc).
http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=6488 
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Moroccan Invention to Help Drivers, Blind People Identify Traffic Lights.
12/05/2005

Moroccan inventor Youssef Aït Ali has recently patented a device intended to help drivers identify traffic light colours at sunrise and sunset, as well as during rainy or foggy weather. The invention is a small lamp device for inside the car, which communicates with another device mounted in the signposts to determine the traffic light signal. A second invention, which looks like a watch, can be carried by the blind and generates vibrations specific to each traffic signal colour. Ali says the devices can help avoid or at least reduce the number of accidents. The university researcher received his first patent last year for a device intended to facilitate communication of the deaf and people with compromised hearing. (Menara, L'Economiste, Yabiladi) http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/homepage/ 
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Morocco needs "educational belt".
5/18/2005

Minister of Education Habib El Malki called Tuesday in Nador for everyone to participate in the creation of an "educational belt protecting all the provinces and regions [...]." This declaration came as the minister participated in the opening ceremony of the third session of the meeting of the governing board of the Oriental region's Academy for Education and Training. The theme of the session was "quality, proximity, and regionalisation.

"Everyone must collaborate in the building of an educational belt, through joint efforts and the exploitation of opportunities, said the minister.El Malki also mentioned the awareness-raising campaign in favour of the school reform, launched in April this year. He added that it is aimed to promote the results achieved by the reform, which has reached its fifth year, and to mobilise all participants for the next 2005/2006 school year changes which will be based on quality.The minister also called for everyone to work at promoting the generalization of schooling at the regional level, especially in rural areas, in order for both boys and girls to be given equal opportunities.

Another intervention came from the president of the Mohamed I university in Nador who mentioned the efforts made in order to improve the level of integration of education in the region. He also spoke about the forthcoming opening of a multi-disciplinary university in Nador and the royal directives in favour of the Oriental region, especially for the construction of the Fez-Oujda highway and the railway between the cities of Taourirt and Nador, as well as the creation of a regional investment fund. Following this session, a partnership convention was signed between the local Academy and the Organization for Action and Collective Initiative for a joint housing scheme targeting students from rural areas. This convention should make it possible to create favourable conditions encouraging girls in the rural areas of the Jerada province to continue their studies. http://www.moroccotimes.com/paper/article.asp?idr=11&id=6609 
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Essaouira, first Moroccan city to become slum-free.
Economics, 5/18/2005

The Atlantic city of Essaouira has become the first Moroccan slum-free city, after the last shanty town was destroyed and its inhabitants relocated in modern flats. The "Diabat" operation, the last one of the kind, has allowed to relocate 25 families.The program is part of a nationwide project, launched on July 22, 2004, by King Mohammed VI. It is estimated at MAD 17 billions (over US$ 2 billion), with the Moroccan state bringing a contribution of with MAD 5.5 billion (US$ 687,5 million).Due to be completed in 2010, the program projects an annual 100,000 low-cost flats, in close collaboration with private enterprises, with a housing unit to cost between MAD 80,000 and 120,000, between US$ 10,000 and (US$ 15,000). http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050518/2005051827.html 
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Essaouira festival to start June 23, 2005 
5/18/2005 

"A passionate and dedicated festival, the Essaouira yearly gathering [...] has established the pedigree of the Gnaoui heritage and shown its capacity to enrich the great musical styles of our time," said Royal Adviser André Azoulay. This declaration came as Azoulay participated in a press conference, Monday in Casablanca, to present the 2005 version of the festival scheduled to take place in Essaouira from June 23-26.This year's edition of the festival will include nine scenes in which 300 musicians from Morocco, Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States will be brought together. Several big names will be among them to rock the public, such as Fathy Salama, the Egyptian "jeel" music inventor (Arabic pop music), poet-musician Danyel Waro, the Elika and Solo duet, bass player Étienne Mbappé, drummer Roger Biwandu, and last but not least, the Senegalese star Youssou N'Dour and his orchestra "Super Étoile de Dakar." 
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=6613 
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Morocco launches anti-slum plan after 2003 bombings.
19 May 2005 Source: Reuters By Souhail Karam RABAT, May 19 (Reuters)

Morocco launched a major programme to combat poverty and slums, often a breeding ground for Islamists, two years after Casablanca bombings carried out by Islamic militants that killed 45 people. King Mohammed outlined the scheme, expected to cost 1.0 billion dirhams ($114.3 million) a year and designed to provide basic infrastructure to millions, from adequate housing and drinking water to health care and education.

The national human development plan is to start immediately by targeting poor slums and extend this year to hundreds of rural councils and urban slums, where more than 30 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. "Sometimes (they live) in a state of poverty and marginalisation that is not fit for dignified, decent living," the king said in a speech broadcast on state media on Wednesday. "The social issue is our biggest challenge," he added. "Any exploitation of social misery aiming at political ends, at nurturing extremist inclinations ... cannot be morally accepted," he said, in a clear reference to Islamic militants.

The announcement came two days after the second anniversary of the Casablanca bombings carried out by 12 suicide bombers, all from a slum in Morocco's business capital. About 1,000 people have been jailed on terrorism charges relating to the May 16, 2003 attacks. Most were sentenced for being members of the outlawed Salafist Jihad group. Critics say the authorities' tactics against radical Islamists has been limited to heavy-handed swoops, while little has been done to limit the appeal of the militants' message to thousands of disillusioned youths in poor areas. King Mohammed sketched broad outlines of the plan, but gave his government three months to come up with further practical details for the scheme. He ordered political parties to include the plan in their programmes ahead of legislative elections in 2007 and said the scheme's long-term goal was to improve the country's human development ranking. Morocco is ranked 125th in the latest U.N. human development index, based on education, health care and life expectancy, behind countries with less than half its per capita income.

LIMITED RESOURCES: The plan will also ensure permanent sources of revenue to the poor by tackling "with greater resolution and more imagination the informal sector", the king said, referring to the so-called "grey" economy, which includes contraband and accounts for 45 percent of the economy. "Objective data shows large fringes of the Moroccan population and several areas of the national territory live under difficult circumstances," he said. Based on integrated human development and partnerships with public and private sectors, the plan will promote more efficient use of resources and get "sustained funding from the budget", the king said. He did not reveal the proportion of the population the plan targets and acknowledged financial resources were limited. "We will not have any recourse to any new tax ... for neither citizens nor businesses," he added. Social Development and Solidarity Minister Abderrahim Harouchi, who gave the figure of 1.0 billion dirhams a year for the plan, said the programme would not be limited to improving conditions for the poor. "It will tap an important growth potential by developing our human capital," Harouchi told Reuters after the speech. He added that several parts of the plan had already been launched and cited as an example a compulsory health insurance, expected to be implemented this year.
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L19679922.htm 
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HM King announces the launching of 'the National Initiative for Human Development'.
Rabat, May 18

HM King Mohammed VI announced, here Wednesday evening, the launching of the National Initiative for Human Development, which illustrates the sovereign's concern to fulfill the aspirations of the Moroccan people, and which is part of the society project initiated by His Majesty since his accession to the Alaouite throne. Four main benchmarks of the Royal Initiative This Initiative, launched in a nationwide speech, stems from four principal benchmarks that constitute its cogency and philosophy of action, and consolidates the socio-economic building of development of the country as well as the fundamental reforms and the progress achieved as regards the strengthening of the Rule of Law.

In the first place, the Initiative stems from the objective data which show that broad fringes of the population live under difficult conditions and sometimes in a situation of poverty and marginalisation, incompatible with the conditions of a worthy and decent life that the Sovereign wishes for the citizens. His Majesty recalls, in this respect, that many districts and shantytowns, urban or peri-urbans, and several communes, located for their great majority in rural areas, live difficult situations marked by the insufficiency of the access to equipments and basic social services.

The Royal Initiative stems, in the second place, from a conviction according to which the social upgrading cannot rely on the specific assistance or the spontaneous charity action or even on an ethical duty. His Majesty underlines, in this regard, that the efficient and sustainable development can only be materialized by the means of integrated public policies lying within the scope of a coherent enterprise and a global project, while ensuring an all-out mobilization.

The third benchmark of the Initiative is related to the choice of His Majesty the King for the opening on the world, in view of the challenges and vulnerabilities which weaken the social and territorial bonds and convey consumption standards, ways of life and invading diagrams of thought. Underlining the need for benefiting from many opportunity which offers the opening on the world while immunizing the assets with respect to its repercussions, the Sovereign notes that this action can be only a collective endeavor, and that all the Moroccans have to take part in it.

The Initiative stems, in the fourth place, from the lessons drawn from the past experiments and the models having proven reliable in certain countries, in such matters as the fight against poverty and exclusion. The Sovereign notes that these experiments show that this challenge could be taken up only by one rigorous definition of the objectives and a general mobilization for their realization. They inform, moreover, about the limit of the strictly sectorial, isolated and not integrated development approaches, and about the dysfunctions generated by the great dispersion of efforts, resources and actors.

On the other hand, notes His Majesty the King, these experiments attest of the relevance of the policies targeting the most vulnerable zones and categories, as much as the importance of a participation of the populations for a better viability of the projects and interventions. On the basis of these assets, of these reference frames and lessons drawn from the past experiments, His Majesty recalls that this Initiative must be considered under the sign of the genuine and acting citizenship, and proceed from a resolutely innovative step.

Three main axes for the methodology of action The Sovereign set three main axes for the methodology of action in order to materialize the National Initiative for Human Development, underlining the need for tackling , first, the social deficit by the widening of the access to the basic equipment and social services, such as health, education, the elimination of illiteracy, water, electricity and the cultural infrastructures. His Majesty the King lays the emphasis, in the second place, on the importance of the promotion of steady incomes and employment-generating activities, while adopting a more imaginative action in direction of the informal sector. To this end, the Sovereign called the government and the various partners to make of the coming national meetings on employment an opportunity to engage an open and constructive dialogue and to make specific proposals, in order to stop the unemployment of the young people. The third axis set by His Majesty consists in providing assistance to the people in great vulnerability, or with specific needs, to enable them free themselves from the yoke of precariousness and to preserve their dignity. Identification of the recipients on a purely priority basis: To carry out these objectives, it was judged relevant to adopt objective criteria urgently to determine the recipients on a purely priority basis, taking into account material impossibility to ensure an exhaustive and concomitant coverage of all the areas and all the categories.

Thus, His Majesty the King announced that, in a first stage of its launching, the Initiative will target the reinforcement of the social upgrading of 360 communes among the poorest of the rural world, and of 250 poor districts, in urban and peri-urban environment, old médinas and shantytowns. It will target, also and in a progressive way, the upgrading of both the capacities and the quality of the existing reception centers, or the creation of new specialized centers, capable of accommodating and providing assistance to the people in a situation of great precariousness.

The Sovereign underlined, in this respect, that in spite of the limited means, one should not yield to a precarious situation which is viewed as a fate by the Moroccan people, laying emphasis on the assets of the country, including the potential of creativity and qualified human resources. Calendar of the implementation of the Royal Initiative: His Majesty the King set a calendar for implementing the Initiative on the short, medium and long terms.

On the short term, His Majesty the King entrusted the Prime Minister with making sure that the Government endeavors to give shape to this new Initiative, in its first phase, in the form of programs, integrated and tangible projects on the ground. The Prime Minister will have to submit to the high appreciation of His Majesty the King, in the three months to come, a complete action plan answering the objectives of the Initiative. On the medium term, His Majesty the King exhorts the political community, in the perspective of the 2007 elections, to give priority to the development of concrete projects, the goal being to give shape to this Initiative. On the long term, the Sovereign expressed his ambition, which is also that of the people, to raise the indices of human development in our dear motherland to a level comparable with that of the developed countries.

The Royal initiative will rely on resources earmarked in the general budget of the State : Given the national character of this Initiative, His Majesty the King gave his High instructions to the Prime Minister to submit it to the Parliament at a special meeting, so that it collects all the support which it requires. The Sovereign also invited the government to listen and engage a dialogue with all the sharp forces of the Nation, and to adopt an action plan based on the principles of good governance. As to the financing, His Majesty the King decided that the Initiative relies on perennial resources of a substantial level, and be earmarked in the general budget of the State, underlining the need to put an end to the palliatives, sterile and transitory half-measures.

The financing of the Initiative must also be deployed according to a specific financial mechanism ready to guarantee, in addition to the viability of the resources, an efficient easing of the procedures of implementation. His Majesty insisted, in this respect, that no recourse will be made to a new tax or fiscal burden, neither for the citizen nor for the company. The National Initiative for Human Development, a building site of reign, permanently open: The Sovereign insisted that the National Initiative for Human Development is neither a specific project, nor a program of the circumstantial economic situation, but acts rather as a building site of reign, permanently open. His Majesty also insisted on the fact that it does not either question the scale of the priorities, stressing the permanence of the combat carried out in upgrading the human capital, the reinforcement of the competitiveness of the national economy, and the promotion of the investment.

His Majesty the King, in this respect, underlined the determining role of the optimal implementation of the reform of the system of education and training as a capital lever of social mobility and integration, as well as the need for our country to have a strategy of action controlled in the long run by an effective rural development. Reiterating the duty of solidarity with regard to the rural world, the Sovereign exhorted the government to take the emergency measures which are essential to overcome the current economic situation marked by a difficult agricultural year. His Majesty the King, may God assist him, set a three year period for the evaluation of the results of this initiative, calling for the adhesion and the mobilization of all, in a spirit of abnegation and sacrifice. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/box1/hm_king_announces_th/view 
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Morocco king vows slums clean-up.
By Pascale Harter BBC News,

Rabat Morocco's king has launched a programme to improve the country's slums, seen as recruiting grounds for radical Islam. King Mohammed VI's announcement comes two days after the second anniversary of the Casablanca terrorist attacks. He said the problem was the country's most serious social issue, and made a reference to Islamic extremists preying on Morocco's poor. It was young men from the city slums who carried out the suicide bombings that left 45 dead in May 2003. Their poverty and desperation apparently made them ready recruits for Islamic extremist cells.

Declining job prospects "Any exploitation of social misery aiming at political ends, at nurturing extremist inclinations... cannot be morally accepted," said King Mohammed, unveiling his new programme. Expected to cost some 1bn dirhams ($114.3m) a year, it will bring the basics of clean water and schools to the dusty, corrugated iron wastelands, where so many thousands of Moroccans live. Their main job prospects are fast disappearing. Ninety thousand jobs in Morocco's textiles industry are under threat from Chinese competition. As the factories close one after another, even the king seems afraid that the extremists may soon be the only ones recruiting in Morocco's slums. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4563065.stm 
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Over 400 'phantom civil servants' salaries frozen. 
Politics, 5/19/2005

The Moroccan Government suspended the salaries of 415 "phantom civil servants" in 2005, part of a crack down on what is known in Morocco as "the phantom civil servants phenomenon," said Wednesday, Minister in charge of Modernizing Public Sectors, Mohamed Boussaid.Speaking at the House of Representatives question-time, Boussaid said public administrations are studying means to fight the phenomenon of civil servants who get paid although constantly absent from work and do not fulfil their duties, which causes squandering of public funds and tarnishes the image of civil services.Ministerial departments are concerned with identifying these civil servants, he added, noting that human resources and general inspection services role will be promoted to control, audit, follow-up, coordinate and supervise civil service.He said the government controls the state expenditures and has created a human resources data link between the various ministerial departments, the Treasury and the National Fund for Retirement.Morocco counts about 700,000 civil servants whose wages absorb over MAD 60 billion (Euro 5.4 billion) a year, that is 12.5% of GDP. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050519/2005051928.html 
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Moroccan official rules out risk of new locust invasion. 
Local, 5/19/2005 

Moroccan Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries, Mohand Laenser, ruled out the risk of a new locust invasion in Morocco next fall."We have indicators that there would be a calm period and we are not expecting major invasions of locusts ," he told MAP bureau in Dakar where he took part in the ministerial coordination meeting between North and Western African countries on locusts.The minister urged, however, for vigilance and for continued mobilization.The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) reports that during April, only very limited breeding occurred in northwestern Africa. "Although swarms are not expected to form in northwest Africa nor invade the Sahel this year, it is recommended that intense survey operations be maintained in all affected countries and control be undertaken whenever necessary in the coming months."

The FAO forecasts that for Morocco "small-scale breeding will continue on a limited basis in the northeast region where hoppers are expected to fledge in late May and, if not detected or controlled, form at most a few small groups in early June."The Moroccan official also noted that Morocco spent between US$ 70 and 80 million in the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 hopper invasions. The international community has contributed about 15% of this budget, he said.He also played down harms caused to agriculture by the locust invasions and noted that Morocco, which is aware that control cannot be undertaken locally but is only efficient if its undertaken in the breeding areas, has dispatched thousands of litters of pesticides to Senegal, Mauritania and Niger.According to the FAO, some 13 million hectares were sprayed with pesticides and 16 million litters of the product were used in north and west African countries, for an estimated cost of US$ 315 million. http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/050519/2005051926.html 
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GDP: Moroccan economy grows at 4.2% in 2004.

The revised number of the Moroccan economy's growth recorded in 2004 topped 4.2%, down from the 5.5% recorded a year earlier, said on Thursday the government's High Commissioner for Planning. These final figures contrast with a provisional 3.5% published early this year. The decline was mainly due to the weakness posted by the primary sector of the Moroccan economy, as growth recorded in the agricultural sector reached a mere 1.9% against 18% a year earlier. Non-agricultural growth was 4.7%, up from the 3.5% of 2003.In February, the Rabat-based government body said that the Moroccan economy is expected to grow modestly in 2005, forecasting a 2.6% increase of GDP. Excluding the agricultural sector, the Moroccan economy is expected to grow in 2005 at 3%.Regarding the public finances, HCP predicted early this year an increasing budget deficit for 2005 to 3.9% of GDP in comparison with the preliminary 3.2% recorded in 2004. 
http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=6642 
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World Bank Institution adopts a four-year strategy for Morocco.
5/20/2005

The World Bank Executive Board approved on Thursday the new Country Assistance Strategy (CAS) with Morocco for the period 2005-2009, reported MAP. This strategy consists in a yearly USD 300 million funding aimed at triggering a sustained growth, creating new jobs, reinforcing poor populations' access to basic quality services, improving the management the efficiency of the education system in Morocco and promoting water management via an efficient use.CAS is the World Bank's work plan that guides its operations in a country. It describes the country's economic and social performance, its main development challenges, and a summary of the government's development strategy. The key elements of this strategy are discussed with the government and broad segments of civil society. http://www.moroccotimes.com/news/article.asp?id=6661 
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Moroccan economy on the increase for another two years, report.
Paris, May 19

Morocco's economic growth should keep its upward sequence to stand in 2005 and 2006 at over 3%, revealed, here Tuesday, the annual report on African economies published by the Paris-based Development Center of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and the African Development Bank (AfDB). The report notes that this increase should be the logical consequence of the rise registered during the two previous years of 2003 and 2004 (5.5% and 3.5% respectively). According to the report, inflation was maintained in 2004 at 2.3% and the exterior indebtedness rate regressed by 4.5% to stand at 31.7% of the GDP. The report, which offers a deep and comparative study of the economic evolution in some 29 African countries, points out that the encouraging results attained in Morocco are the fruit of an array of reforms that targeted the liberalization of the economy and the improvement of the companies' competitiveness. The goal of such reforms, is to put the Moroccan economy on rails of growth to back up the action of the government to better the life condition and eliminate disparities, the report added. http://www.map.ma/eng/sections/economy/moroccan_economy_on/view 
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Agriculture : Moroccan Agricultural Credit to strengthen its proximity policy.
By Morad Aziz 5/21/2005

The Moroccan Agricultural Credit, also known as Crédit Agricole du Maroc (CAM), announced yesterday in Rabat the adoption of a new action plan devoted to the rural world. It aims to establish a policy of proximity towards the farmers, for whom the CAM has decided to create hundreds of local and mobile agencies in the next three years. At the same time, a new financial offer has been set up to meet the farmers' needs, particularly the El Fellah Global Credit, also known as Crédit Global El Fellah (CGEF).

This is a new financial approach to meet the total needs of the agricultural exploitation in the short term. The new types of credit are: reconversion/redeployment credit; investment credit and credit for service enterprises in the rural world.Concerning the proximity policy, 100 local agencies will be established in the next three years: about 20 in 2005 and about 40 in each of the following two years. The mobile agencies will be connected to the headquarters of the CAM through satellites and will offer all bank services. They are expected to be in seven souks (traditional markets) at least once a week, i.e. 700 souks a week periodically throughout the Kingdom. This is to provide a "bank", as it were, for the rural world.According to the documentation of the CAM, the new El Fellah Global Credit, which has replaced the Classic Campagne Credit, will not only face the constraint of climatic hazards, but will also "make up for the weak surplus of the difficult years by the positive surplus of good years over a period of five years, guarantee the financial continuity of the agricultural exploitation and ensure easy measures of credit payment."

As far as the reconversion credit is concerned, the CAM aims to encourage the reconversion or redeployment of the cereal exploitation in non-adapted zones towards profitable cultures. Totaling MAD 4,5 million, this credit aims at promoting olive trees for the sum of MAD 1,5 million, the rest being devoted to other cultures, including bio cultures, spices, medical plants and so on.Through the investment credit, the CAM is expected to finance, both irrigation and mecanisation, i.e. to modernise the widespread traditional techniques of agriculture.The CAM's new financial offers will also give credits to service enterprises in the rural world. This to encourage and help the creation of small enterprises in rural world in jobs, such as consult engineering, the installation of irrigation materials, veterans, topographers, rural tourism.The action Plan of the CAM, which was presented in Casablanca on Wednesday, also abandons the legal cases related to 100,000 failing farmers. This is an operation totalled at MAD 3 billion and will be launched in parallel with the creation of Dar El Fellah (the house of farmer) in June 2005. This house is an independent Agricultural Credit structure that aims at accompanying the farmer in all the steps necessary for the creation and the continuity of the agricultural enterprise.
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Sunil Sethi: How tourism transformed Morocco
AL FRESCO Sunil Sethi / New Delhi May 21, 2005 Marrakesh (Morocco):

Nearly 30 years ago, as an impecunious backpacking student, I travelled through the main cities of Morocco, working my way on second-class trains and buses from Casablanca on the Atlantic coast, along the spine of the Atlas mountains, to the old imperial capitals of Marrakesh and Fes. It was an achievement even then to last out the week on $50. This week, in somewhat improved style, I have been visiting friends old and new in the same places and am astonished at the changes that have swept through this westernmost corner of the Islamic world, especially in tourism-as both a source of foreign investment and driving force of the national economy. (Tourism is now Morocco's second-largest foreign exchange earner with revenues of over $3 billion this year.)

Although one of the great medieval cities of the Maghreb, Marrakesh in the late 1970s was part of the down-at-heel hippie trail on a par with Istanbul and Kathmandu. It is now the playground of the well-to-do, many of them very rich Europeans. Gianni Agnelli's widow Marella owns a beautiful holiday home here and so do much of the French smart set, from fashion designers Yves St Laurent and Jean Louis Scherrer to intellectuals such as Bernard-Henri Levy. They have taken the lead in restoring some of the city's crumbling old riads, the Moroccan equivalent of Indian havelis in the crowded lanes of the medina or inner city. Saving old riads has become such a fashion that between 400 and 600 have been superbly restored in recent years and there is hardly another to be found. The going price for an authentically restored riad, with its complex of hidden courtyard gardens and sunset views over the walled Kasbah, is now in the region of about $1 million.

While India grudgingly crawls towards a figure of three million tourists a year, about the same number visited Marrakesh last year and the figure is expected to rise by about 35 per cent in 2005. According to the "Plan Azur", which Morocco's young king (Mohammad VI, not yet 40, and in many ways a study in contrast to the authoritarian larger-than-life figure of his late father King Hassan II) has put into force, Morocco hopes to attract 10 million tourists by 2010. This includes partial privatisation of the national airline.

Indian politicians and tourism officials have been making similar promises for years but with pathetic results. Let me explain, after a week of observing and travelling, how it works in Morocco. The first biggest surprise for the Indian visitor is the cleanliness of the cities, in particular the high standard of basic civic services of the historic quarters. With its labyrinth of 9,400 twisting alleys and more than 300 mosques, the ancient medina of Fes is the heart of the city, its main tourist attraction, but is more densely populated than, say, the Jama Masjid and Chandni Chowk areas of old Delhi. Yet the thousands of inhabitants and artisans who live and work here have proper sewage, garbage disposal, paved lanes, potable water and running electricity.

If Indian politicians like Renuka Chowdhury and Kapil Sibal (the last is MP for Chandni Chowk) seem to think that stinking drains, festering garbage and beggars shoving mutilated limbs into visitors' faces will attract millions to Chandni Chowk and Jama Masjid they are mistaken. When fake tourist guides became a plague in Marrakesh and Fes, local authorities established a force of plainclothes police to weed them out. Apart from working at the municipal level, city and provincial governments have the authority to take decisions that will enhance their image. In Marrakesh it is a rule that all building facades are painted in traditional shades of red ochre and terracotta. This gives the place a unique identity and instills a sense of pride among its residents. The results of Jaipur's similar but half-hearted and badly-executed idea are there for all to see. At the national level slow and muddled policies also hit tourism. Despite its eagerness to lure foreign investment, and riding an unprecedented boom in the property market, India is afraid to allow foreigners to buy a home. If, like Morocco, India had the confidence to set the agenda and abide by rules, hundreds of historic old Indian buildings might be saved. That would be a step forward in promoting heritage tourism in the real sense of the word.
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