16-07-2008
1288 keer gelezen
174 comments

Vacuum power in Morocco

Vacuum power in Morocco due to King’s prolonged absence. US, France and Spain worried about future of Morocco (26.06.08 El Imparcial [Spain])
----------------

Mohammed VI of Morocco has virtually abandoned the reins of power, which has created a power vacuum that worries its main Western allies: the United States, France and Spain, who fear a jihadist offensive against the ‘impious’ regime.

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, tried unsuccessfully to convince the Alawite king to abandon his Parisian residence and return to his country. The King has not participated in recent international meetings. The government is paralysed and capital is leaving the country.

The abandonment by Mohamed VI of the reins of power in the Alawite Kingdom. under the pretext of a rest and leisure travel in Asia, has plunged the North African country in a de facto power vacuum.

The sovereign’s prolonged absence -- the second in six months, the first of 47 days, and this one 30 – has created confusion in Morocco, which heightened after the visit of French President Sarkozy to the king "in his Parisian residence “which, against all odds”, did not produce a return to the country of its monarch.

"Sarkozy wanted to convince Mohammed VI to return to Rabat as soon as possible," a source close to the Moroccan government said to El Imparcial, "but he did not succeed." The agent tried to pressure the French King in the presence of his brother, Prince Moulay Rachid, who traveled to Paris specifically to attend the meeting. However, the visit of the French head of state did not achieve its purpose.

The repeated and long absence of King Mohammed VI has created "a dangerous power vacuum," diplomatic sources believe. According to Morocco’s Constitution, the King as Head of state holds all political power and presides over all institutions: he is Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, he is the first judge, he chairs the Council of Ministers, legislates by royal decree (Dahir) and without his royal signature no law, agreement or treaty can enter into force. The Council of Ministers of Morocco, the principal organ of executive power that the king presides, has not met in recent months.

The government, under the leadership of Prime Minister Abbas El Fassi, is limited to handling current business and to prepare projects of Law and decrees which must be ratified by the Council of Ministers. This explains why the legislative machinery is virtually paralysed since all decrees, regulations and projects approved by Parliament, do not become effective until signed and sealed by the sovereign.

The feeling of helplessness that exists in Morocco, where each day resembles more and more to the reign of sultan Moulay Abdelaziz who devoted much of his reign (1894-1907) to purchasing toys in the West, is accentuated by similar absences of most members of the Moroccan Royal Family. In addition, many senior officials and the top brass of the Armed Forces, have sent their closest relatives abroad rather than face such uncertainty.

Another element of the current institutional crisis, which has recently come to light, is that for the past several months there is a significant capital flight from Morocco, which has caused the Swiss authorities and international community to be on the alert.

Questioned in Parliament regarding the issue, the government chaired by nationalist El Fassi downplayed it, indicating that it was simply a return of capital investments made in recent times in the Kingdom. Moreover, El Imparcial has learned from Moroccan intelligence sources that there was recently a meeting between members of the US State Department, senior officials from the CIA and several Moroccan generals, to discuss the current situation in the North African country. This is a sign of the serious concern with which Washington follows the developments in Morocco, a country of huge geo-strategic importance for the US.

Practically since the beginning of 2008, Mohammed VI has been absent from all international forums to which Morocco has been invited. He has declined to go to the Arab summit in Tripoli, to tackle the project launched by President Sarkozy on the future Union for the Mediterranean; he did not attend the summit of the States of the Sahara and Sahel held in Cotonou, nor the Tokyo conference dedicated to discuss the future development of the African continent.

The King was not around to welcome the President of the Congo, Denis Nguesso Sassu, on an official visit in Morocco, nor was he in Morocco during the visit of General William Ward, commander of US command AFRICOM currently headquartered in Stuttgart, who visited the country on 28 and May 29. General Ward was limited to maintaining a meeting with General Abdelaziz Bennani, inspector general of the Royal Armed Forces (FAR).

This de facto power vacuum in Morocco has generated great concern in its Western allies, the US, France and Spain, mainly. Recent statements by the number two of the terrorist organization Al Qaeda, Egyptian Dr. Ayman El-Zawahiri, called on jihadist groups in the Maghreb to overthrow the “impious regime” headed by the King of Morocco; the statements have only exacerbated the insecurity in the region.

Given the unpredictable situation, the Moroccan security services are on "alert status" as the institutional instability can be exploited by some powerful groups to sow chaos in the country. This explains the disproportionate repression carried out by 8,000 troops and police against demonstrators in Sidi Ifni.

The "civic movement" [NDLR: the Mouvement pour tous les democrates] invented by the close friend of King, Fouad El Himma, appears ever more clearly to support a vigorous intervention of the army in case of social unrest, or Islamists in the territory of the [NDLR: Western] Sahara.

-----------------------
(unofficial translation from MINURSO. NB the original version is in Spanish)